I'm intended to buy a high zoom digital camera and have primarily selected Fujifilm Finepix S8500 or Nikon Coolpix P520.
I've primarily chosen the Fuji model, but it has a drawback over the another which has stuck me from taking the final decision. Fuji lacks Manual Focusing System.
Should I reject the Fuji Camera ONLY because of that? I know what does manual focus means (theoretically), but does it really matter so much?
deep blue2
Favorite Answer
It matters if it's something you'd use.
For example, if you intend to do a lot of night photography, you'll pretty much need to manually focus, as Autofocus will struggle in low light - it'll be continually trying to 'hunt' for focus.
If you don't intend to do any low light work, then it won't matter.
B K
It's unusual for most of these types of superzoom cameras to have manual focus - and neither of those cameras has a focus ring.
The Nikon specs say the Coolpix has "manual focus available" - whatever that is supposed to mean is unclear, but there is still no focus ring!!! How practical that will be is hard to tell - especially if it involves pressing buttons to move the focus in or out - http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/coolpix/p/p520/
Really it depends - why exactly do you want to use manual focus??? How often do you think you are going to have to adjust focus manually?
Anonymous
I have three cameras and only one of them has autofocus, so I'm kind of biased towards manual.
Manual focus can be very useful. Depends on what you're going to shoot a lot of the time. If, for example, you're going to shoot through a fence and you want the focus to be on what's behind the fence (as opposed to on the fence itself) then an autofocus-only camera can give you all kinds of headaches because it will usually focus on the fence. Manual? Easy.
A good autofocus system can theoretically focus a lot faster than manual, but it is also more prone to focusing errors at times. It can tell you it has locked on when it in fact hasn't, and it can get fooled at times by certain scenes, especially when the scene has next to no contrast.
If you're shooting things and need the shot fast, then AF is usually the better option unless you're very good with your manual skills, guessing distances and shooting hyperfocally...and most people aren't.
Saying all that...most situations pose few problems for a decent autofocus system, but there will be the odd time when it will drive you mad.