Well, here's my problem with autofocus:

http://www.pbase.com/image/18233117

Jeff took it with his Canon digital Elph (actually, quite a nice camera).  The
first thing I noticed when I saw the photo, is that the camera bodies and such,
are fuzzy.  What's in focus is the strap of my lovely little CL.

Well, I guess the auto-focus did it's job;  something's in focus.  But my guess
is that Jeff would have been happier if something else (a body?) would have been
in focus.

I'm sure someone will tell me that a teeny Elph doesn't have such a
sophisticated auto-focus system, and that some big expensive DSLR would have
figured out what's up, and focused properly.

Still, I'd rather have the control of exactly what I choose to focus on, not
just let the camera make that decision for me, and just wait for the results to
find out if the camera was right.  I mean, I'm guessing that in the little LCD
viewer, one couldn't have perceived such critical focusing issues, so it would
have been hard to edit that one on the fly, and retake it.

Or am I way off base on this one?

cheers,
frank

Alan Chan wrote:

> I can't give you any figure, but it's no BS. Really, I consistently obtain
> sharper results with my MX than my Z-1p, with tripod or not. Even manual
> focus with Z-1p doesn't seem to deliver the sharpness that the MX offers. I
> once need to adjust the focus of my LX myself and I observed the focus on
> the actual film plate using a Nikon rectangular 8X loupe which just fits the
> film guides. What I have found stocked me. The absolute focus on the film
> plate would deliver ultra sharp image while only very very very slightly off
> would be totally different. Since the AF tolerance is quite loose on the
> Z-1p (turn the lens both ways and it still confirms in focus), that loose
> margin is wide enough to take away that "absolute" sharpness. Unfortunately,
> since no 8X loupe can be used on the viewfinder, the same accuracy of focus
> cannot be achieved in practice (except those shooting large format).
>
> regards,
> Alan Chan
>
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--
"I don't believe in God, but I do believe in pi" - Henri Cartier-Bresson


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