Focussing fast manual lenses

[belgiumreporter]

When trying some shots of the headstocks of my guitars i was once again confronted with the fact fast lenses (wider apertures than 2.8) can't be accurately manually focused on (D)SLR's.

The problem being that the "ground" glass, which is not a ground glass anymore: it's a microstructured glass, optimized for light transmission with slow lenses, not for ease of manual focusing.

This results in 3 phenomena:

1)the viewfinder won't get any brighter beyond 2.8 towards wider apertures

2)What is seen through the finder correspondents with an aperture of about 2.8 to 3.5 so it is imposible to visually assess the dept of field with apertures wider than 2.8.

3)following this critical focus with apertures wider than 2.8 is not possible....

To solve this problem somebody suggested to use the live view function, needless to say this will slow down picture taking.

Another solution is to change the ground glass to an accumat one. I did this in one of my D300's an can assure you this isn't a fun task to take on. Still it works well and is ideal for using manual focus lenses.

Still i haven't come to changing the screens in the camera's i currently use and as DSLR's have a very short life span mostly about 6 years before replacement is due, i'm not sure i'll ever venture in to changing screens in camera's wich aren't constructed for this, times of cameras with interchangeable finders and screens stopped when DSLR's became common.

So i guess i'll have to cope with, or work around this problem.

Here's what the DOF is at 1:1.2 and how the image looks in the finder.

[philbirch]

I ditched the Nikon D3200 and bought a Sony mirrorless exactly for that reason. and the fact that there was no metering and the flange focal distance is too long for most lenses.

[belgiumreporter]

A mirrorless camera can be "a" solution, but not "the" solution. Here i've used the nikkor 135mm f2 on the Samsung NX1000.

The nikkor is notoriously difficult to focus on dslr and i've lost countless shots with it thinking my subject was in focus.

On the NX wich is DX format it becomes a 200mm f2 equivalent. Focussing also isn't easy as the combination can't be handhold steady.

Because the NX hasn't got an eye level finder the back screen often is (to) difficult to assess in bright daylight. When conditions are favourable the 8x MF help function works well and helped me to achieve critical focus on the pixies right eye.

I would love to have a full frame mirrorless camera to use the fast manual primes on but i can't justify the expence for the use i'll have out of it. Maybe one day the right Nikon Z will come my way?

The complete 135mm at f2 shot and the 100% enlargement:

[belgiumreporter]

Just bought a Nikon Z6 results will pop up the moment i get the hang of the Z. it's a great camera but not easy to master all the fine tweaks and settings. The FTZ adapter is a great piece of kit, sadly the Z is quite picky with wich lenses it is willing to work (at least with all bells and wistles working).

Loki my agapornis shot with the Nikkor 105mm f2.5 @ f9 iso200 manual focus with focus peaking 1/200sec  Nikon Z6 with FTZ adapter