Manual Focusing Help

ThatCanonGuy

I have a bunch of old Pentax manual focus lenses that I'd like to use (just for fun, if nothing else). I'm considering picking up an older Pentax DSLR like an ist or something. The newer ones have live view, but they're more expensive. I know live view magnification really helps with manual focusing. My question is, what else helps? Do you think I can get by with a camera without live view? I've heard of split screens, but it seems like they're a pain to install. Is it worth it? What else helps with manual focusing?

Thanks

Overfocused

ThatCanonGuy wrote: »

I have a bunch of old Pentax manual focus lenses that I'd like to use (just for fun, if nothing else). I'm considering picking up an older Pentax DSLR like an ist or something. The newer ones have live view, but they're more expensive. I know live view magnification really helps with manual focusing. My question is, what else helps? Do you think I can get by with a camera without live view? I've heard of split screens, but it seems like they're a pain to install. Is it worth it? What else helps with manual focusing?

Thanks

Split screens are as much of a pain to install as a lens. They're very simple to replace granted you use the rubber finger covers that usually come with the screens.

ziggy53

If they are M42 Universal Screwmount lenses, the best approach that I found was to acquire an M42/EOS adapter with a focus confirmation chip and use them on a Canon camera. It's very fast and reasonably accurate.

For K-Mount lenses, the choices are a little more limited, but this is what I'm looking at (haven't bought one yet):

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adapter-Dandelion-Confirmation-adapter/dp/B003Y3EJMU

For critical focus, I do believe that a camera with LCD/monitor live view is essential.

*(Canon 1D/1Ds bodies are more problematic in that they also require a lens adapter that will trip a micro-switch on the camera body which is there to detect the presence of a lens. Not all adapters have this protrusion.)