if the d40 has 3 af points and the d80 11 this obviously has a big affect when autofocusing but what about when focusing manually? does it offer any tangible advantage? at the moment i can change which of the 3 points i am ‘focusing’ on but i can also do that hold the focus and recompose so would 11 points do anything worthwhile

AF points don’t have any effect on the focus when manually focussing.
When using manual focus the focus indicator light still comes on to tell you when the selected AF area is in focus, but that is really just a handy assist.
I think, depending on your settings the AF point still alters auto-exposure. e.g. If you are using spot-metering then (I think) it uses the AF point as “the spot”.

Having multiple AF points is mainly useful when using AF (naturally).

The focus and recompose method is useful but can be a pain when your subject is moving, whereas AF-C mode will keep them in focus. Also if you focus then recompose then your exposure will be locked on the thing you focussed on, so may be incorrect. (you can change a custom setting to decouple the autofocus lock from the auto-exposure lock to prevent this).

What GrahamS said…

Fontmoss, did you get your lens in the end? I’ve just got a Sigma 18-200 (Nikon fit) if you want to meet up and have a beer and a play with it…

hello again! i cant find your email add 🙁 mine is in my profile, fire me a mail and we’ll hook up if you’re about this week. aye bring cameras,lenses and any bike associated paraphernalia

ta mr s too

i should also ask if either of you have a flickr account? im in need of direction/advice/criticism and some of the ‘rate me’ groups seem pretty crap at times

flickr

Sadly I’m all talk and no trousers fontmoss. 😐

I’m a natural geek so I understand all the technical left-brain stuff, but my composition and arty skills are rubbish (which is why I took it up in the first place – to expand my right brain).

but what about when focusing manually?

if you’ll pardon me for stating the bleeding obvious, you DO realise that ‘manual’ focussing implies you use your eyes to do it ?

lol yup but wanted to know when the camera registers a ‘focus’ ie the wee dot appears then what does it base it on?

plus i have pants eyes and find it tough to tell when im tryin to get the foreground in focus and bokeh thereafter, maybe a dof preview would help

mr s, i dont believe you, let us see your stream!

fontmoss ygm

if you want people to rate your pictures, just post ’em up here. You can always link directly back to your picture on flickr.

mr s, i dont believe you, let us see your stream!

No really – I’m poo.

The other issue is that, as an eternal procrastinator, I don’t actually have many pics online.
(maybe if I spent less time on forums and more time playing with my pics then I might :))

You’re more than welcome to have a browse through my Picasa albums at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/dalmutinet but I promise you that you won’t find any high art there.

No really – I’m poo.

I don’t know about that: your masterpiece Elarex Fishing Reel is, quite frankly, inspiring.

This twisted, Joker-like face – shocking.

What length a piece of string?

A riff on HTML codes?

😀

LOL. Yeah – eBay pics I took for my dad. It’s an antique y’know. 🙂

plus i have pants eyes and find it tough to tell when im tryin to get the foreground in focus and bokeh thereafter, maybe a dof preview would help

What you see in the viewfinder is always at maximum aperture (unless you are using a fully manual lens) so a DOF preview will only ever stop the lens down to your selected aperture which extends the DOF to what you are actually taking.

In other words, if you find it tough to judge what is in focus normally, then a DOF preview won’t help. (A bigger viewfinder image might though – either via a new camera body or by using a magnifying eyepiece).

ok, i thought using a dof preview would make it clearer what was in focus

so mr geek tell me about split prism screens?

You got me there. I know Katz Eye make them for the D40. Something to do with it showing a split-image and when it is in focus the two images will line up correctly. But I’ve never used one or even seen one in action.

Sounds a bit like a rangefinder to me.

One of the old-skoolers might be able to help.

yeah had a look and not sure how id get on with it

hmm i shall have a shot of mates dof preview see what it does for me.

thinkin bout a fixed 24mm old nikon lens next as cant afford a sigma 18-50 f2.8 but any recommendations or suggestions welcome-im more interested in portrait and low light stuff than having a zoom (though id like to get something like the f2.8 80-200 nikon or even the cheapish 55-200 at some stage)

Take it you already have a 50mm f1.8? If not then you might want to get one as they are cheap and great portrait lenses (though I don’t know if it will autofocus on a D40, you may need to get the more expensive AFS one for that)

hmm i shall have a shot of mates dof preview see what it does for me.

If you are anything like me then your response will be “Oooh it’s gone all dark.”

lol, yeah used the dof for first time earlier and that was indeed the reaction but ill give it a proper whirl soon

yeah got a 50 1.8 albeit an e series old school one (very nice build tho, metal and everyfink)

the 2.8 nikon 24-85 looks nice, so many lenses so little time! ill prob go for a 24 fixed until i can save up some cash for something in the 300 quid range, 24-85 would probably be a more useful range than 18-50 tbh

The focus points on the cameras help as as long as its bright enough for the camera to pick up the focus, itll beep and highlight the area. This essentially replaced the split prism (old skool) way of working as it enables you to get a better control over where you focus. The problem with it is if you have poor eyesight or have the diopter adjuster badly then it will never seem in focus.

Also in Manual focus you dont have the red AF assist beam you do on Automatic focus so in low light its harder to focus anyway. The split prism screen is a good idea but again is only as good as the light thats coming through the lens. As somone mentioned a depth of field preview button acts to give you a true understanding of the depth of field.

Magnified eye pieces are a good way of sorting out focusing but often they cut off the coverage you can actually see.

Doug

ta doug, havin played with camera again i wonder if im relying too heavily on ‘registering’ a focus with the camera. i shall endeavour to find out

get one of these

i put my old type 1 18-55 on the wife’s D40x and the results are stunning. i’m considering getting another one to go on the D300 as i’m always a bit disappointed with the 18-200mm in that range. i know it’s not f2.8 but the D40 has pretty good performance at slightly higher ISO speeds

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmichaelwright/

ive got one mr wright-thats the one i was going to sell to you 🙂
id be interested to hear what you think of the d300 though, esp in comparison to d40

new 35mm af-s lens released looks interesting, tho ill prob stick to cheap(er) and cheerful old school fixed lenses for now

ah 😳

missed the forum name 🙂

as for D300/D40

well it’s really a whole different ball park.

Often i think the mistake people make is too get too hung up on the camera body. lets face it, the D40 is superior to the D1h which was a pro level camera not too long ago!

i upgraded from a D70 for the following reasons:

gadget creep
that screen, it really is very nice
low light/high ISO performance
fps
image processing, it really does produce some fabulous images, the image processing is very close to that of the D3
Nikon creative lighting system compatibility
weight/build, the D70 is too compact to feel balanced with a bigger lens

it was shiny…….

the D40x i got for my wife is really rather nice, seems to have fantastic colour reproduction.

The D300 is, to all intents and purposes a D3 with a smaller chip and less dust/weather proofing as well as a few other pro level bits that i don’t require. I only wish Nikon would bring out an f2.8 wide angle zoom for apsc cameras

Often i think the mistake people make is too get too hung up on the camera body

We the differences D40/D60 or D200/D300 may be marginal, but I see a huge difference between my D60 and D300 (and not just in weight!). The D40 may be better than the D60, as the latter seems to spend AGES writing to the memory card, even with a fast card, so the extra megapixels may slug it. I have a 30Mb/sec Extreme III card in my D40 but if you take a burst of shots it slows to a crawl 🙁

yeah i had thought about getting a d80 because it’d be easier to alter settings, use more lenses autofocus and the ability to use it in lower light
but now thinking im better buying lenses and saving up for something a bigger leap from d40 than d80 so see a real jump in continuous shooting, viewfinder etc. and as mr wright says newer cameras are awesome compared to older pro issue cameras not to mention cameras and lenses from back in the day

D80 user here and having played with my mum’s D40 I’d say it is already quite a leap.

D90 is out now too remember.

yeah d80 would be nice, although d40 is mine and my gfs, hmmm

d90 is beyond the budget for now

btw is there a big difference between a 24 and 28mm fixed lens, id assume not but thought id ask?

yeah d80 would be nice, although d40 is mine and my gfs, hmmm

Perfect: “I decided to get my own camera so you don’t always have to share yours with me darling”.

btw is there a big difference between a 24 and 28mm fixed lens, id assume not but thought id ask?

A 24mm gives you an field of view of 52.4° horizontally and 36.4° vertically (61.2° diagonal)
A 28mm gives you 45.7° by 31.5° (53.8° diagonal).

So yeah there are a few degrees in it.

Don’t you have the 18-55mm kit lens for the D40? If so then just try it at those two focal lengths. It won’t be as a sharp as a prime obviously, but it will illustrate the different coverage.

Nikon have just released an 35mm F1.8 G AF-S DX lens, which might also be a nice choice. Should RRP at around £199.

saw the 35 but for the sake of auto focus its prob a bit much for me, an old AI 24 or 28 lense lets me play around with a cheaper lense until i really know what ranges and lengths i use.

ive played with 24 and 28 on the 17-55, doesnt seem a huge dif but maybe ill plump for 24.

Perfect: “I decided to get my own camera so you don’t always have to share yours with me darling”.

now this is i like! shame money was motivation for splitting the cost, plus a new from shop camera has warranty..

I have a D40 and the great all purpose 18-200 lens. The camera is much, much better than me 🙂

I use a SB600 flash, and for indoor people pics can’t rate it highly enough as it is generally used bounced.

COnks

thats the sort of moderating view i need! yup d40 def a great camera, need a cold shower to stop thinkin bout others

Just looked on eBay and there is a D80 body going for £250.

Goan.. you know you want to…

oh i forgot to mention the D300s performance with poor quality optics, for some unknown reason(even by the experts) it has an ability to virtually eliminate chromatic aberrations on very wide lenses, even my cheap russian 8mm fisheye

for some unknown reason

not unknown to the designers 🙂

yup stuck my singlecross frame on classifieds!

still, think might hang fire with d40-set up function button to adjust ISO, white balance is impressive left on auto and i dont really need a wee lcd to show me settings (im going to ignore ability to auto focus with more lenses and better performance at ISO 1600!)

not unknown to the designers

apparently it is!

and theyve admitted that? youd want to keep that quiet

“and it eliminates errors from crap lenses.”

“wow thats incredible, how?”

*shrugs shoulders*

think ill stick with d40, maybe buy afs 50mm if really feel need for auto and save the pennies for an uber body like 300 or whatevers on a good deal in 6 months

The only thing I really miss on my D60 is auto-bracketing, if I’d read the spec before buying I might have gone for something else…