From:             Willem-Jan Markerink 
To:               eos@avocado.pc.helsinki.fi
Date sent:        Mon, 9 Jun 1997 19:59:53 +0000
Subject:          Re: EOS: Re: EOS- RE- FTM on ElanIIe
Send reply to:    eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI

On  9 Jun 97 at 9:57, Roger Eichhorn wrote:

>         Reply to:   RE>>EOS: RE: FTM on ElanIIe
> 
> Maybe I don't understand what FTM stands for, but I have the Elan II, the
> 28-80, f3.5/5.6 and the 75-300, f4/5.6 IS.  Both lenses have AF/M switches. 
> If I set a lens and the camera on manual, it seems that I can focus manually
> and control the exposure.  What else is there?

FT-M, Full Time Manual, means that you can manually adjust focus 
*before*, *after* and *during* AF (although during AF doesn't make 
much sense, as you confuse both your and the camera's brain....;-)).
All this *without* the need to switch from AF to M.
Although Canon mainly promotes USM with being 'fast' & 'silent', and 
FT-M mainly as 'touch up focus' (after AF), the real advantage of 
ring-USM is FT-M (Micro USM is not FT-M, except for the 50/1.4), and the 
main advantage of FT-M is *prefocus*. It both cuts down AF reaction 
time significantly under all conditions, and avoids hunting for focus 
in bad contrast/light conditions.
And by shifting AF-start to the thumb button on the back of most EOS 
cameras, instead of connected to the release button, you have AF on 
command!
Note that FT-M as 'touch up focus' is a magical feature when shooting 
infrared....I let AF do its job, and then apply a fixed amount of 
rotation for IR focus-correction. Works best when combined with this 
AF-start shift to the button on the back.

If it were not for FT-M, I might still be shooting Minolta AF!


-- 
Bye,

Willem-Jan Markerink


      The desire to understand 
is sometimes far less intelligent than
     the inability to understand



[note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]

If you have any question, remark, comment, want to share some philosophy or just want to express your opinion about these pages, feel free to send email to: w.j.markerink @ a1.nl