My CV 21mm is the winner!

[kshapero]

The other day I was at an event. I had a friend shooting with a Nikon D200 and a very nice zoom, I think 18-200. I was shooting my ZI with a CV 21mm. The lighting was great. I was able to hone in on f11 at 1/125 sec. It was very crowded.
The results were for him mostly disappointing because his auto focus seemed to focus on one or two people with the rest out of focus. His main problem was that it was often the wrong person who was in focus. My photos because of scale focusing were pretty much all in focus. I won!

[Roberto]

Please post some picture

[tripod]

That's the reason why a preset (focus and exposure) manual camera can be faster and better than an auto-everything camera.

[RF-Addict]

Sorry, but your friend obviously does not know how to use his camera - autofocus is so quick these days that there is no way the camera could have missed so many shots. I would bet that he had all the focus points turned on and let the camera decide what to focus on, instead of using only one of the focus points.

I love my CV 21 and my Rfs, but we should stay realistic. If you were able to shoot at f11 and 1/125sec it means that there was sufficient light for the AF system to work. If people can shoot actions with these DSLRs, they sure should be able to manage taking in focus pictures of people at a social event.

[pphuang]

The 21 is a great lens, but you are the true winner. It was your ability to understand basic photographic concepts and apply them to the situation, rather than depending on a mindless computer chip, that allowed you to excel. Nothing against your buddy, but he could have done just as well by thinking about what he wanted and over-riding the auto controls as appropriate. Congrats, and enjoy the moment!!

[Kent]

Originally Posted by tripod

That's the reason why a preset (focus and exposure) manual camera can be faster and better than an auto-everything camera.

...or you learn to use your DSLR properly!

[kshapero]

It seems to me that to use a higher end DSLR properly you have to have pretty good technical-computer skills, which my friend might have been lacking. Anyway I still won. I only saw his photos on a CD so I don't have copies to compare. I thought it was an interesting comparison. I did look at his unit. I think there was about 20 buttons on it. Kind of kills the art of spontaneity.

[Nh3]

all your friend had to do was select dynamic area focus - continuous servo - and he would've been fine. he also had the opportunity to control the dof on the fly while you needed to adjust the shutter as well and calculate the ratio. He also could shoot continously while you had to stop and reload.... D200 is one of the best DSLRs ever made and a lot of pro's use it.

anyway, post some pictures and if you can show us some of your friend's photos as well.

[kshapero]

Originally Posted by Nh3

all your friend had to do was select dynamic area focus - continuous servo - and he would've been fine. he also had the opportunity to control the dof on the fly while you needed to adjust the shutter as well and calculate the ratio. He also could shoot continously while you had to stop and reload.... D200 is one of the best DSLRs ever made and a lot of pro's use it.

anyway, post some pictures and if you can show us some of your friend's photos as well.

Only thing I can say is that since I was using a 21mm lens and since the light source was consistent. I set the exposure and scale focused only once. of course I had to change film but I was able to shoot "at will."

[hans voralberg]

Originally Posted by nikonhswebmaster

I use a DSLR which still has F-stops on the lens and shutter speeds on the top dial, they are getting rare! Nikon insists on building lenses with no F-stops, as does Olympus etc.

I think shooting manual, or understanding a DSLR is becomming almost as difficult as programming a VCR. The folks designing cameras these days just don't get it.

What is that ? Cant remember I've seen one