Lens Adapters

[Travis L. Stevens]

Are there any manually focusing lenses that I can put on my Fuji FinePix S5100? I can't get the hang of the digital focus for the life of me. I would rather spend a little extra tax money and buy one of the twisty-turny ones. I probably have my technical terms wrong, but that's all I know

Fuji FinePix S5100

Example Lens

 

[aural]

your camera has a fixed lens. You will not be able to use DSLR style lenses with this camera.

short answer, no, you cannot use a manually focusing lens with that camera.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7006881#post7006881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aural
your camera has a fixed lens. You will not be able to use DSLR style lenses with this camera.

short answer, no, you cannot use a manually focusing lens with that camera.

What!? I wasted $400?! *sigh* :sad1: You mean I can't keep the camera on manual focus, leave the digital lense at a fixed position, and get a manually focusing lense to do the fine adjusting?

If not, anyone want to buy/trade a camera

 

[aural]

pretty much if you want DSLR functionality, you need to buy a DSLR.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Pfft. Figures. What is the resale on cameras? Do camera stores do trade-ins? I have to have a manual focus. I just can't do this digital focusing stuff. Ah, I miss the days of camera film sometimes.

 

[aural]

i always eBay my old cameras. i have had REALLY good luck and i have always gotten a reasonable amount of money back out of them.

You should look into a Nikon D50 or D70s - or a Rebel XT if you prefer canon products. either way i think you will be happier with a full on DSLR setup. Much more flexability and a heck of a lot of fun to learn. I have a D70s and i couldnt be happier. It was really hard to lay down the scratch for it at first, but i am so glad that i did.

 

[gregr]

Hey that lens will focus manually- I'm looking at a review of it and I gather it's a fine camera- so don't sell it just yet! Unless of course aural already talked you into a dslr
When you're using autofocus are you aiming the camera and pressing the button all the way down as you would with a manual focus film camera? The reason I ask is- you may get better results if you press the shutter button halfway- keep it pressed halfway while the camera gets the autofocus locked on, then press the button the rest of the way. Sometimes autofocus systems have a hard time getting a focus lock on objects that don't have much contrast- and shooting thru glass into a tank with water and moving fish and corals... not an easy thing for the camera to accomplish.
Have you had trouble with the autofocus on non-aquaria subjects?
Greg

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

gregr, it does have a manual focus with buttons. Not the twisty/turny style around the lense. I'm a little old fashion with my focusing.

The autofocus is actually not that bad, and it takes pretty crisp pictures for regular photography. But it is such a pain in the rear to use for nice close ups of anything in my tank. Even manual focusing by pressing and holding the +/- button and then pressing W/T to manually focus is very slow and a real pain.

For all that it matters, I have my camera here with me today if anyone thinks they can trouble shoot a user error

Also, why would Fuji provide a lense adapter if you can't add a manual focus lense?

One more thing, what is the average price range for these DSLR Cameras. There is no way I would ever pay the price of a Digital Rebel, so if these others are in that price range, I'm just going to sell my camera and not even get a new one. It was already a kick in the crotch to pay $400 for this one, and now a punch in the face to find out there isn't a manual focus lense for it :lmao:

 

[gregr]

Even manual focusing by pressing and holding the +/- button and then pressing W/T to manually focus is very slow and a real pain.

I hear ya- didn't realize it was such a convoluted process to focus manually- that is really lame and I can see why you hate it.

why would Fuji provide a lense adapter if you can't add a manual focus lense?

It's for three things- telephoto adapters, wide angle adapters and filters (like a polarizer or diopters [close-up filters]). They all need threads to attach to the lens... hence the lens adapter.
Sad to say that price-wise the DRebel is on the low end of the scale. Consumer dslr's go for around $6-900, the prosumer dlsr's go for approximately $1200-3000 and a professional DSLR will cost you in the $4-7000 range

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

:eek1: This thread was supposed to be full of good news! :lmao:

Would it be possible to rig up a manual focus lense from another company using the lense adapter?

 

[gregr]

Not for regular photography no. You could rig something like that but you wouldn't have a usuable focal length- it'd be for extreme close-ups and there'd be a very narrow focus range.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7021915#post7021915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gregr
Not for regular photography no. You could rig something like that but you wouldn't have a usuable focal length- it'd be for extreme close-ups and there'd be a very narrow focus range.

Would it be worth it for aquarium photography?

 

[gregr]

As far as I can tell you'd be looking to do something like what quangtam7 did here.
Because the lens on your camera is not removeable you can't bypass it- whatever you attach to the front of it [via adapter] has to be seen through the original camera lens. So any manual focus lens you attach will act as an extreme magnifier.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I could swing that. I love macro shots!

 

[gregr]

that's a ton of fun- obviously no good for regular photography but that shot of the pod is amazing...

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Exactly! That is the photos that I would like to be taking. I can manage taking wide pictures of my fish and cropping them, but I can't get a good zoomed in shot with a regular camera in macro mode for the life of me.

These are the BEST shots I have ever taken. This is all I have collected over the span of a year. The bettas and the chromis were "cheating". They stayed very still. Even the Tubastrea was hard to get focused.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't realize the last two shots weren't resized properly.