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Re: [OM] Point Lobos [was Edward Weston - NY Times feature]

Subject: Re: [OM] Point Lobos [was Edward Weston - NY Times feature]
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:28:58 -0700
Ken Norton wrote:
> Am I the only one that sees the stupidity in "progress?"  

Not at all. It may just seem so, as you are the one complaining about it 
"out loud" all the time. :-)

> My old Zuikos of very useful DoF marking all over them.  Granted, my 
> preference is to go 1-stop farther than the markings indicate, but nearly 
> every lens has something to go by.  No guessing, no cheat sheets.
>
> I realize I'm starting to sound like an old coot: "They don't make cameras 
> like they used to".  But for crying out loud, we call this an improvement?
>   

I know you hate it when I explain why things have changed, but ... AF, 
particularly in it earlier incarnations, required short focal throw and 
very light focus touch to get speed and accuracy with relatively weak 
motors. With short throw, the amount of rotation of the focus ring is so 
small that there simply isn't room for a DOF "table". The lines and 
aperture markings would only be readable with a magnifying glass.

So yes, it's a step backwards, but at least there is a technical reason 
for it. It's not, necessarily, or in all cases, intentional dumbing 
down. The Tamron 90/2.8 macro has very nice manual focusing with a ring 
that seems to have nice throw. It rotates about 270 deg. - but thats for 
infinity to 1:1. And they tried. There are DOF markings, but the space 
is so tight that they are only for f16 and f32 - essentially useless. 
They do at least give some qualitative idea how narrow the DOF is at 
higher magnifications.

Moose
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