>>3914018Maybe.
But regarding RAW make the switch now.
I mean right now. As you get done reading this post. Do it. Now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not "later". Go into your camera and choose RAW+JPEG and it'll save both. There's no excuse not to. If you're using a 2GB SD card then it's time to upgrade.
Shoot RAW. If you don't want to use them, that's fine. Hoard them or discard them. You should always be capturing them though.
As for manual focus giving shit results you might be an inferior defective human specimen. Try manual focusing based off the LCD on the back in live view mode, not the optical viewfinder. If you're near/farsighted you'll never get in-focus shots on most DSLRs unless they have one of those split prism things where you just line things up. If you're optically judging what's in focus you're being lied to by the optics unless you yourself have perfect eyesight. Most don't, and subtle imperfections will throw your focus off.
Some cameras come with adjustable viewfinders for people with imperfect vision but they're not ideal. Use the back LCD, zoom in, and only hit the shutter when it is visible in focus there.
