Re: Old fogey needs some advice

A good question, and one whose answer depends on just how selective you
are. Just what do you need to be manual?

If the answer is everything, meaning *everything* that was manual on
your old cameras, then there seems to be only a pair of options: the
new Panasonic DMC-L1 with the Leica kit lens or Leica's R system with
the "digital-module." The second option is prohibitively expensive (and
has it come to market yet?). The first is one that I'd exclude because
I think the Four-Thirds system chip size is too small (but I also think
that the "APS-C" size chips in most DSLRs are also too small, so I'm
picky that way). In any case, these are the only options you have if
you want a physical aperture ring and a physical shutter speed dial,
and the aperture ring applies on the Panasonic only on that one Leica
kit lens, at least for now.

If you think you can sacrifice that shutter speed dial, your options
open up considerably. You can choose from all of the Pentax DSLRs and
the Nikon D200. The Nikon is nearly $1800, so it doesn't come cheap.
These two options allow you to use older lenses without autofocus and
with physical aperture rings. Shutter speed would be controlled via a
dial on the camera, but the control is electronic and you can't
actually see a physical setting like on old SLRs. It isn't much of a
sacrifice, since there is in both cases an LCD on the camera that tells
you your shutter speed, and you can also verify the shutter speed in
the viewfinder. That it isn't a physical dial with absolute settings
also means that you tend to get more settings since there's no limit
like there is with the number of settings that could fit on an actual
dial. This is probably the option you'd be most comfortable with, and
I'd urge you to look into the Pentax offerings, as they are much less
expensive and have a brighter viewfinder.

If even that is more than you actually meant, then you're really open
to most everything out there. Canon's offerings, *above the Digital
Rebels* (basically starting at the 20d, which is as far as you'd need
to go up the chain), all work terrifically in full manual mode. That's
how I shoot with my 20d all the time. The Nikon cameras (the D50, D70,
and D70s) offer the same functionality. Basically, in these cases, you
get full manual operation simply by turning off autofocus. Shutter
speed is controlled via a dial just like on the cameras mentioned
above, and aperture is controlled via a second dial in very much the
same way. It takes some getting used to the fact that there isn't a
physical aperture ring on the lens (the second dial is on the camera
body), but it is an easy workflow to adjust to and I never feel as if
I'm not using a manual camera, because I am... the interface is just
different. It should be noted that at this point I could only highly
reccommend going to a camera shop and comparing, say, the Nikon D70S
and the Canon 20D. Both offer the same degree of manual control, but
they put the dials in different places. I owned a Nikon D70 for a year
before I sold my Nikon gear for Canon, and in switching I discovered
that I liked the larger dial on the back of the 20D a great deal more
for controlling aperture. Something about it made alot more sense to my
mind. I'm sure that an equal number of people are more comfortable with
Nikon's system, though, which is why I say you should go see for
yourself.

Canon's Rebel and Rebel XT are to be avoided for this kind of use,
however. They only have one such dial, so you control shutter speed and
aperture on the same dial, switching with the press of another button.
It is a system you wouldn't be happy with.

So a bit of a recap:

1. Physical Aperture and Shutter: Leica R or Panasonic L1 with Leica
lens (coming soon)
2. Physical Aperture, Electronically Manual Shutter: Nikon D200 or
Pentax
3. Electronically Manual Aperture, Electronically Manual Shutter: Canon
20D and 30D, Nikon D50, D70, and D70S
4. Not easy enough to work with manually to be worthwhile: Canon Rebel
and Rebel XT

Yes, I'm leaving out Konica Minolta's discontinued line and Olympus'
FourThirds cameras, as well as Fuji's Nikon-mount DSLRs. Call it bias,
but I don't think any of these systems offer anything great for your
uses.

Now lenses are another story. To work manually, you need a certain kind
of glass. Obviously, everything in option 1 is pretty clear (all Leica
lenses have aperture rings for the R system, and the one lens for the
Panasonic does as well). Likewise, the manual lenses you'd want to get
for the D200 or Pentax cameras are fine. But both of these cameras also
will work with newer lenses, in some cases "digital-only" lenses, and
these lenses will not have aperture rings and will be essentially like
the options from option 3. Even then, Canon, Nikon, and Pentax make
some lenses that work beautifully for manual focus, and some that
don't. All of my Canon lenses have the designation of "USM" which
refers to the autofocus motor, but also seems to suggest nice build and
a nice, dedicated focus ring for manual focusing. The Canon kit lenses
that I've seen, however, would annoy the crap out of me for manual
focusing. The kit lens that came with my Nikon D70 when I had it was
great, just like my current Canon lenses. The kit lens with my friend's
Nikon D50, however, is just as bad for manual focus as the Canon kit
lens I've seen. I haven't seen Pentax's kit lens, but I imagine it
could be the same. For this reason, I'd recommend looking at your
lenses before buying, to make sure you would be comfortable manually
focusing with them.

The last issue at hand here is that of your focusing screen. The new
standard for all digital SLRs seems to be a matte screen that doesn't
offer any kind of prismatic focusing aid like you might be used to. I
don't know about Nikon (sorry, I just don't know!), but I think Pentax
cameras offer interhangable screens so you can get a split-image prism
if you want it. Canon's 5D and pro cameras offer them, but the 20D and
30D do not.

Finally, unless you can shell out 3 grand for a Canon 5D, which has a
chip the size of a frame of 35mm film, your focal lengths will be
different than you're used to. Nikon and Pentax cameras have a focal
length multiplier of 1.5, and Canon cameras have a multiplier of 1.6.
The Panasonic camera has a very small chip and a multiplier of 2, and
the Leica R system has a multiplier of 1.3. This is due to the fact
that the chips are smaller than a frame of film, so essentially you
only get the field of view that would have been at the center of the
film frame. On a Nikon or Pentax body, a 28mm wide angle lens becomes
like a 42mm short normal lens. On a Canon body, it becomes like a 45mm
normal. This limits what you can do at the wide end, especially with
older manual focus lenses. All of the manufacterers have made "digital
only" lenses that won't work on film cameras because they only cover
the smaller chip size. These lenses, by and large, exist to give you
back those wide angle focal lengths, so they frequently have wide ends
around 17 or 18mm. They also, however, never have physical aperture
rings and sometimes are of the design that prohibits comfortable manual
focusing. Not all of them, however, so again, look at them and see if
you'd be able to manual focus with it.

Lastly, autofocus ain't the end of the world. I finally came around,
and I use it a little more than half of the time. It's worth giving it
a shot. Which I say only because if you limit your options in that
regard, you might not have any wide angle lenses. Or you'll pay alot
for them, like I did for my Wide angle zoom.

My kit, in case you're curious, is as follows:
Canon Elan 7 film body
Canon 20D digital body
Canon 16-35mm 2.8L USM Superwide-Wide for film, Wide-normal for digital
Canon 28mm 1.8 USM Wide for film, Normal for digital
Canon 50mm 1.4 USM Normal for film, Short Tele for Digital
Canon 100mm 2.0 USM Short Tele for Film, Long Tele for Digital

I couldn't be happier (well, a 5D so that all of my lenses behaved as
they do on the film body... that's my long term goal). That said, I
think you've got a Pentax kit, and plenty of happiness with it, in your
future. Just a prediction.

Hope that helps,

Will

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