5d focus points and manual lenses

gtc

so, just wondering whether the 5d focus points light up whilst using manual focus lenses?

anyone? andy?

pathfinder

Yup, if the lens is in focus!

Hold the shutter halfway down, and slowly focus back and forth and the RED AF points will light up when focus occurs, and the green light on the right in the view finder will light up also when focus occurs.

I just tried it to be sure:):

ziggy53

pathfinder wrote:

Yup, if the lens is in focus!

Hold the shutter halfway down, and slowly focus back and forth and the RED AF points will light up when focus occurs, and the green light on the right in the view finder will light up also when focus occurs.

I just tried it to be sure:):

Path,

Just so I understand, this works even with "adapted" lenses that don't couple electronically or don't even have an "auto-focus" mode?

That would be very, very sweet.

Are any other Canon bodies capable of this? (Using manual focus lenses and providing focus confirmation.)

Thanks,

ziggy53

Matthew Saville

I know that for Nikon DSLR bodies, you can in effect take an absolutely chipless, auto-nothing lens and put it on your camera, and if it's in focus the focus light will go on. I bet this is the same with Canon. Although, having the actual focus point light up is neat! I have to monitor a little light in the corner of the display LCD right below the viewfinder, and that's a pain. Having all in-focus focus points illuminate sounds really cool!

-Matt-

LuckyBob

ziggy53 wrote:

Are any other Canon bodies capable of this? (Using manual focus lenses and providing focus confirmation.)

Yes. I can personally vouch for this with the 300D, 350D, 10D, and 20D (as I own a 300D and got to play with the others all the time at my old job). UPDATE: I tried it with a 50mm f1.8 II lens electronically decoupled by taping up the contacts and it doesn't work; I don't know about my other lenses but I could try them if you want.

One thing I've noticed though, on my 300D it seems like the points don't always light up every time. For example, if I continue to hold the shutter halfway down and bring the focus back and forth in a scene (even with a tripod), it seems like the first point I get into focus lights up fine, but if I keep playing with the focus don't always light up the others (or even the original one again if I "pass by" it). Anybody else seen this happen?

Matthew Saville wrote:

Although, having the actual focus point light up is neat!

Canon does this. I'm actually kind of surprised Nikon doesn't; is there a menu setting to enable this?

gtc

how?
how do you achieve this with the 20d?

i can't seem to manage it.

what lenses did you use?

greg

pathfinder

ziggy53 wrote:

Path,

Just so I understand, this works even with "adapted" lenses that don't couple electronically or don't even have an "auto-focus" mode?

That would be very, very sweet.

Are any other Canon bodies capable of this? (Using manual focus lenses and providing focus confirmation.)

Thanks,

ziggy53

I don't know if non-EOS system lenses do this or not Ziggy, I just turned off AF on my 24-105 IA L to test this, but I think it will, as the Canon T&S lenses are not AF lenses, but will focus this way and verify focus with the 5D or 1D series cameras by lighting the little green light in the viewfinder.

Like another poster mentions, it can be kind of tedious to do - you have to focus carefully, you need plenty of light, and sometimes it is hard to verify lock. I doubt it will work well in dim illumination. BUt I have done it with several lenses - Canon macro lenses do this also.

Bob Bell

gtc wrote:

how do you achieve this with the 20d?

i can't seem to manage it.

what lenses did you use?

greg

The 20D, D60, 1DmkII do this with Zeiss 21mm, 28/2, 28/2.8, 50/1.4, 50/1.7, 85/1.4.

the focus / meter system still work even though a lens is not electronically coupled.

BTW it nots perfect

geoffmead

Focus points
Don't forget that some focus points are "horizontal" some are "vertical" and sme are both.
On my 20D there are 6xH, 2xV, and just one (the central one) which is both.
In MF mode, with the shutter half-pressed, each one lights up when it recognises focus on a suitably oriented edge or line.
Geoff

pathfinder

Good point Geoff. And the center points will usually work in dimmer light than the more peripheral points.

This will work a lot better with f2.8 lenses than f5.5 lenses I am sure.

gtc

manual focus confirm-camera settings
could someone who is getting focus confirmation with old manual lenses give me a tutorial in how to set up my camera to achieve this?

gtc

bob says no to focus confirm on 20d
Bob says no to focus confirmation on eos 20d-

http://bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html

does anyone disagree with him and if so why...and how?

ziggy53

Bob Bell wrote:

The 20D, D60, 1DmkII do this with Zeiss 21mm, 28/2, 28/2.8, 50/1.4, 50/1.7, 85/1.4.

the focus / meter system still work even though a lens is not electronically coupled.

BTW it nots perfect

Bob,

What adapter are you using? I am using a simple metal plate adapter from Adorama, and I cannot get focus confirmation in any mode or with any combination of focus point selection, including all. I am choosing subject matter with sharp and simple high-contrast matter to perform the test.

I am using a dRebelXT and the lens I would really like to work is the Pentax 50mm, f1.4, but this would be handy with other lenses as well.

I had read about someone taking an old telextender apart (it had broken optical elements) to provide mechanical coupling with a unique lens. That combination also provided focus confirmation.

Thanks,

ziggy53

Bob Bell

ziggy53 wrote:

Bob,

What adapter are you using? I am using a simple metal plate adapter from Adorama, and I cannot get focus confirmation in any mode or with any combination of focus point selection, including all. I am choosing subject matter with sharp and simple high-contrast matter to perform the test.

I am using a dRebelXT and the lens I would really like to work is the Pentax 50mm, f1.4, but this would be handy with other lenses as well.

I had read about someone taking an old telextender apart (it had broken optical elements) to provide mechanical coupling with a unique lens. That combination also provided focus confirmation.

Thanks,

ziggy53

The adapter is a fotodiox from when the whole Zeiss on Canon thing started 2 years ago. I bought it from Son who can be found on FM in the alternative mount forum. They were the fotodiox ones with the spring retainers.

I'm in the process of selling off all of the zeiss stuff since I don't use it enough (85/1.4, 28/2 hollywood, 28/2.8 are gone) So I don't think I can test it now since I only have a 50/1.7 left.

But I know the center point will light up red when it thinks its in focus but the whole point to this is to not use the AF system from Canon because it is flawed in my opinion. Well maybe not flawed, just the AF tollerance to too much.

Bob Bell

gtc wrote:

Bob says no to focus confirmation on eos 20d-

http://bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html

does anyone disagree with him and if so why...and how?

I have a lot of respect for Bob. He has done amazing things around this industry but my first hand experience is that he is incorrect. The interesting thing about this is, Canon focus confirmation and manual focus weren't always in agreement.

gtc

settings to achieve this?
i am interested in how your camera was set up to achieve this-could you explain the settings to us so that ziggy and i can try to get our teles to work?

also did you get a beep?