Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

When trying to use manual focus with D7200 the shots are inevitably soft. In the old days we had split image focusing screens that helped us compensate for poor vision. How do you that have less than optimum vision accomplish sharp focus in manual?

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

If your camera has some sort of "Live View", where you can enlarge the scene on the rear screen and fine tune focus prior to shooting, it is even better than the split screens of the"Old Days". One of my cameras has it, one doesn't.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

You need to be using a camera that has focus peaking and/or focus confirmation - best accomplished by a mirrorless camera.

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PeterBergh

A possible way is to use live view and enlarge the live view.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I have the same issue and I shoot mostly macro and I can't stand to wear glasses with my camera so here's what I did. I set my camera with a prime lens on the tripod to assure that it was still. I took a section of the newspaper and taped it on the TV's screen so that I had a flat plain of view. I set the camera to my eye level as I sat on a chair. I turned the camera on and set it to Auto Focus with Live View on using a section of the newsprint as my target. I enlarged the view on the LED screen to see that it was in fact focused. I turned Live View off and looked in the viewfinder. I corrected the clarity by adjusting the diopter so that I could read the news print clearly. I snapped a picture to see who it looked.

Then I placed the camera in the Manual Focus mode and ran the focus ring in and out and set it back to where I could read the newsprint through the viewfinder. I turned on Live View and enlarged the view on the LED screen to assure the print was clear and snapped another picture.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The button with the magnify glass will zoom into the display in Live View. Visit the section titled "Live View" in your Nikon or Canon manual for all the technical details on how to enable Live View for your DSLR model. A mirrorless camera with an EVF (Electronic View Finder) can display that zoomed live view with your eye to the camera's view finder, zoomed to 100%.

Chaostrain Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon

I point my camera at a flat surface in AF. I push the release button halfway to let the lens auto focus. I then adjust the viewfinder to give me the sharpest focus. I then put my lens on MF and go take my pictures. I don't have live view.

User ID

First I got a real focusing screen for my SLR. Not
all SLRs have interchangeable screens, but not a
big deal cuz it was not a huge improvement. Then
I gave up optical viewfinders. Digital finders with
magnified MF are a complete solution, in terms of
accuracy, but the live view digital function of SLRs
was very inconvenient ... it's slow, and cannot be
sent to the eyepiece [uses monitor panel only].

Sooo ... I progressed to full time live view bodies
that solve the speed and convenience issues that
made SLR live view less than generally useful. I
do still have a few SLRs which see almost no use
due to all the advantages of full time live view
cameras. I still use my old SLR lenses tho :-)


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Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

I cannot get Live View when working with lights in the studio so I have to rely on my AF. My Ophthalmologist assures me my poor vision is temporary (6 months) after having a surgery on my camera eye. I can't even get a clear reading on my settings that I want when shooting manual right now! But my lenses are really compensating for me on focusing. If you are shooting outside in the day then your Live View should help considerably.

BebuLamar

My approach is to get 20/20 vision with glasses but I guess you can't do that. You can use the focus indicator in the viewfinder that would work with manual focus lenses.

mcmama

I use my back button focus. I miss the old film cameras if for no other reason than the circle in the middle of the viewfinder that had to be lined up so you knew your shot was in focus. Everything else I do manually.

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

Don't feel all alone. I, too, wish that normal, out of the box, dSLR's still incorporated split image focusing screens. And they weren't there to help compensate for poor vision (adjustable diopters accomplished that), they were there to assist in critical focus. Even with 20/15 vision, peering at an enlarged live view image on a back screen is --for me-- not the solution I'd like, but like everybody else, I've come to live with it. Same with focus peaking on the camera I have that supports it; I'm still guessing to some extent. Short of dragging my laptop around with me to the kinds of places I go --which is simply not going to happen-- and tethering the camera such that there's a substantial bit of image real estate to gauge focus on, I've come to rely on spot focusing in AF, holding that, then re-composing for the shot. Doesn't take long, but it takes (me) longer to do that than if there were a split image rf to use.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Cany143, can you elaborate on recomposing rather than placing an AF point directly at the point of focus of your composition? Your recent posts do not report a camera model in the EXIF. An AF point specifically where you want the focus should be superior in the results, assuming the AF array of your camera model covers that point of focus. Even with just 9-points, the results of using the widest AF points will tend be better (depending on the composition) than recomposing by moving the camera and AF point away from the intended point of focus.

Bill_de Loc: US

In the lower left of the viewfinder are two arrows with a dot in the middle. When the dot is lit you are in focus. Otherwise the arrows tell you which way to turn the focusing ring on Nikon lenses. I think it is called focus confirmation.

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Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

A lot of what I shoot, I shoot on the fly. In the terrain I shoot in, unless I already know the shot in advance, or plan on staying in that immediate area for an extended period, or am a relatively short distance from the Jeep, I rarely carry or use a tripod. Consequently, setting up and selecting focus via bbf or scrolling around to locate a particular focus spot is not to my advantage. For me, its much faster to use a center focus spot, aim that at what is most critical focus-wise, hold that via half-touch on the shutter release, and compose as the scene demands. I could use the method you describe, of course (and at times do, when I'm home or doing macro or anything vaguely 'studio'); any of cameras I use (FX and DX Nikons or a Fuji (full on manual focusing/exposure, since I'm using only non-Fuji lenses) can and will multi-point AF array, but for my style of shooting, I find the method I use to be the fastest and most convenient way for me to focus/compose for a scene. Haven't had too many criticisms/complaints about things being out of focus, so I guess my method works relatively well, but I wouldn't suggest anyone else do likewise unless they'd been doing it for as long as I have.