Manual focus

In the field of photography, a manual focus camera is one in which the user has to adjust the focus of the lens by hand. Before the advent of autofocus, all cameras had manually adjusted focusing; thus, the term is a retronym.

The focus itself may be adjusted in a variety of ways. Larger view cameras and the like slide the lens closer or further from the film plane on rails; on smaller cameras, a focus ring on the lens is often rotated to move the lens elements by means of a helical screw. Other systems include levers on the lens or on the camera body.