Having recently purchased the Nikkor AF-S 60mm 2.8 lens, I initally didn't get a focus gear and was wondering what the consensus was among the group regarding focus gears.
Living in West Palm Beach, we drift dive and I find myself fighting the current to remain still. I know that moving the camera a bit can fine tune the focus though I'm wondering if the focus gear would be the best solution for critical sharpness. I'm using the Sea and Sea MDX-D300 housing.
Appreciate everyones opinon,
Gary
Hi Gary
I've been using the older 60mm macro for about 9 years and have never used a focussing gear. Auto-focus all the way and I rarely have an out-of-fcous shot. Save your money for something else!
I think its partly preference. But I like them when Im right on the edge of magnification limits for small subjects, as otherwise you can get some very frustrating hunting experiences, because autofocus generally has a limit thats lower than the true maximum magnification of a macro lens. So you can go to maximum magnification with the manual focus, then rock the camera in and out to make sure you've got as much magnification as possible.
Maybe thats only a canon issue.
I don't think you should get one if you are drift diving as staying still long enough to work the manual focus in these condition is quite difficults, this being said, focus gear are, A0 not that expensive and B) in the case of the AF-S you can leave it on and use AF with the option of overidding to manual easily. so basically adding it to your working system has absolutely no ill side effects and in the end, better safe than sorry means a lot underwater, if you have it, it means you can used it!
Cheers
I don't think you should get one if you are drift diving as staying still long enough to work the manual focus in these condition is quite difficults, this being said, focus gear are, A0 not that expensive and B) in the case of the AF-S you can leave it on and use AF with the option of overidding to manual easily. so basically adding it to your working system has absolutely no ill side effects and in the end, better safe than sorry means a lot underwater, if you have it, it means you can used it!
Hey! I agree with Jean!
:-)
Actually I agree with Otara too... I find myself sometimes using the manual focus gear to set focus as close as possible and then rock to focus.
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