Rockett Crawford wrote:

"Del Johnson" wrote in message
.. .
We will just have to agree to disagree on that point. After composing my
photo and acquiring a guide star, the last thing I want to do is to remove
all the equipment to do a final focus check!

That's fine for you. Like I said, I'm glad you've
got something that you feel works well for you.

Back when I used to do film, I would knife-edge
focus before every shot. Then I would frame
the shot and search for guidestars. Removing
and replacing the camera bodies took 5 seconds.

And among the pros, that used to be atandard procedure. I can just
remember way back when. One has an extra plateholder, with a
knife-edge set in just the way a plate would be. SInce you
have to insert the plateholder after checking the field location
anyway. It's not much time loss. Plus taking and developing a
focus plate is really time-consuming, although I certainly did
enough of those with a Baker-Schmidt. Obsolete hint - you can
use a glass fixing tray atop a light table to get a quick
examination, but hold your breath while doing so.

Only once did I manage to shoot plates out of focus by getting the
knife-edge holder upside down in the dark. The next day, Gene Harlan
wrote a rude sort of THIS SIDE UP message on it.

Of course, CCDs have changed this along with everything else.

Bill Keel