I went on a trip this morning. Some blackthroated divers were swimming in the lake. Took a shot with the aus Jena Sonnar 135mm/3.5 zebra M42-lens. For some reason I had a hard time getting focus this morning, but this is ok I think.

As a reaction to my post “5 reasons I love manual lenses” some responses on other sites was claiming you need, yes MUST have autofocus to shoot moving objects. This is, I guess, from people who haven’t tried and can not turn a ring.

Sure. I have not shot birds, swallows in flight, racing cars… oh, but I wait I am mistaken. I have photographed those things with manual focus. But the “newer is better myth” says it’s impossible. I wonder what more miracles I can perform? ;)

I don’t have time to find really good examples today, so just some I fetched from my flickr, but my point is that it takes some practise but it is possible. The swan is one of my first manual photos and not the greatest of images but it is in focus:

Racing a cloudy, foggy day

Flying Swan, one of my first manual photos

Some shots of Bohemian waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus), all made with Asahi Opt.Co. Super-Takumar 135mm/3.5 m42 on Canon EOS 350D, and then cropped.

100% Crop

100% crop, Bohemian waxwing with bokeh

50% crop

50% crop, Bohemian waxwing sharp

50% crop

50% crop, Bohemian waxwing