Obviously, we are spoilt with AF. I am not sure how people did it before AF, but using MF on a moving subject is no easy task. I am just getting the hang of using a 50mm F1.8 D on my D5100. It's a great lens wide open. Thankfully, i have a little white dot that appears in my viewfinder when things are in focus - i ahve to manually focus of course. I have been having great fun with it and am getting good at pointing, focusing and shooting quite fast. But, as i said before, i am so spoilt when i go back to AF with my 18-55.