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From Haselblad to Nikon

RVB

Member
Interesting article Jeff,one question I have to ask is why not use live view to focus?
 

Jeffg53

Member
Force of habit, really, I'm quite happy using the viewfinder. It took me a bit of practice to get the hang of it.

Is liveview better?
 

RVB

Member
Force of habit, really, I'm quite happy using the viewfinder. It took me a bit of practice to get the hang of it.

Is liveview better?
Jeff,it's the biggest advantage of cmos (along with long exposure and high iso performance),you should definitely give it a shot,you'll be surprised how effective it is. (bear in mind that the D800's implementation of live view is not the best,Canon's is better)

You can focus at the aperture your shooting at,it will be interesting to hear how you get on..

Rob
 

Jeffg53

Member
Thanks Rob, focusing at the shooting aperture would be a great improvement. I'll give it a go.

If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that the D800 liveview was not well regarded. It's also something that I'm not used to with the CCD on the Hasselblad.
 

RVB

Member
Thanks Rob, focusing at the shooting aperture would be a great improvement. I'll give it a go.

If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that the D800 liveview was not well regarded. It's also something that I'm not used to with the CCD on the Hasselblad.
Canon has exposure simulation,nikon doesn't but in daylight the D800 live view will be good enough,looking forward to hearing about your experience with it.. :thumbup:

p.s dont forget to use the magnification,at 5x or 10x its really helpful for achieving critical sharpness..
 
M

mjr

Guest
Hi, interesting read, I have come from an Alpa with Phase 1 to a D800 system and find I use it almost like a technical camera. I tend to compose in the viewfinder, tripod mounted of course, then switch to live view, zoom in to confirm focus and take the shot. Obviously that works for the style of pictures I take and may not work for you but I find it really straight forward. Like you I have mainly manual focus lenses, I have no problem focusing the Zeiss 135 f2 manually, very rarely am I off when I check in live view.

It's a great system for what I want and sounds like it is for you too, have a play with live view as RVB suggests it's just another tool but I find that once I had tried it I liked it!

Mat
 

Jeffg53

Member
Thanks Mat and Rob, I'll try liveview and report back. It's funny coming back from MF to the Nikon. I retain the discipline that the Hasselblad forced which I think produces better results than i would otherwise get with the D800.

I'm delighted to get the feedback. I didn't expect to get it when I posted my piece. I really wanted to document what I had done in the hope that it may help anyone else undertaking the same transition. It's been quite a voyage of discovery.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
What you can do and I setup my cam to give me a 100 percent view with the center button when in live view and on playback. Really handy to just hit the center button and it goes right to 100 percent view for focusing. I also setup playback to do the exact same thing. Hit center button to pixel peek.

Now remembering how I set that up is a brain fart at the moment. LOL
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Btw the Zeiss 135 f2 is pretty easy to focus I have found as well. Maybe my favorite lens on the D800e along with my Leica 19mm. My three favorite lenses are the Z 135, Leica 19 and the Sigma 35mm 1.4. Also the Zeiss 25 f2 which I need to buy back.
 

grappa

New member
What you can do and I setup my cam to give me a 100 percent view with the center button when in live view and on playback. Really handy to just hit the center button and it goes right to 100 percent view for focusing. I also setup playback to do the exact same thing. Hit center button to pixel peek.

Now remembering how I set that up is a brain fart at the moment. LOL
Good idea!
When you remember please let me know. I can't seem to find this out in my setup.

Thanks.
 

RVB

Member
Good idea!
When you remember please let me know. I can't seem to find this out in my setup.

Thanks.
Go to custom setting menu>F controls>F2 multi selector centre button >Live View and set it how you want it from there...
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
I am using a 3.2" Hoodman loupe with liveview, attached to the LCD via a bottom plate and attached to a tripod. Works very well for me.
 

Jeffg53

Member
Jeff,it's the biggest advantage of cmos (along with long exposure and high iso performance),you should definitely give it a shot,you'll be surprised how effective it is. (bear in mind that the D800's implementation of live view is not the best,Canon's is better)

You can focus at the aperture your shooting at,it will be interesting to hear how you get on..

Rob
I've just been trying out liveview. If I stop down, the screen goes dark, by f/11 it's black cats in a coal mine at midnight. Am I missing something?
 

Jeffg53

Member
I've been fiddling around with liveview and I have a few issues. With the Hoodman 3.2" loupe that I have, I get light around the edges as it is not an exact fit. Probably not an issue at times but it's pretty bright outside. Is there one with a better fit?

I might be picking bad subjects but the 100% view is pretty blurry, but it does seem to confirm that my viewfinder focus is spot on.

It's probably me being dense but liveview is making the viewfinder look good.
 

RVB

Member
I've just been trying out liveview. If I stop down, the screen goes dark, by f/11 it's black cats in a coal mine at midnight. Am I missing something?
Jeff,have you tried in in Aperture priority?just tried mine at f11 in AV and its bright and clear and that's on a rather dark morning.. in manual it will look dark if you haven't yet corrected the exposure settings..

Rob
 
M

mjr

Guest
I agree, it's a what you see is what you get type of thing, if you're in manual and haven't yet set the correct shutter speed then it will appear under or over exposed depending on where you are on your shutter speed. My live view when zoomed right in is very clear with what is in focus and what is not, it's not perfect by any means but shouldn't be blurry unless it is out of focus of course!

I've never used a loupe so can't comment, good luck with your experiments!

Mat
 

Jeffg53

Member
Thanks Rob and Mat, I'm in aperture priority but the Leica lenses are completely manual. The D800E thinks that I'm at 2.8 always. I just tried it on the Zeiss and it's great. I see what you mean.

I wonder if chipping the Leica lenses would fix that.

As an aside, I have just been out to try out the 28-90. Looking at the files, I would not be able to tell them from an H file. The detail is fantastic. This lens probably cost me about 4 times the price of the Nikon equivalent by the time I had the conversion done.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Leica lenses will be in stop down mode chipped or not. Chipped is only for EXIF data and lens used but not aperture. You need to open to 2.8 focus than stop down to working aperture unless you can see okay at working. Lens will always show 2.8 as well on camera. The 28-90 is a excellent lens. I have the Leica 19mm with a Leitax mount. Like to grab a Leica 28mm R latest model.
 
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