[Leica] Softie technique

[Martin Howard <mvhoward@mac.com>]

Eric wrote:

> [Soft Release] pros.
> 1. it's really comfortable for my finger.
> 2. my finger reacts faster from what i see from viewfinder.
> 3. smooth surface feeling

You've missed one: many people report that with a Softie, they can 
hand-hold the camera at one or two speed settings lower than they can 
without.  In other words, if normally you can shoot no slower than 
1/15s and get still get acceptably sharp pictures, then with a softie, 
you could probably do the same at 1/8s and possibly at 1/4s.

The trick is twofold: The first past is how you place your finger on 
the Softie.  Rather than placing the fleshy part of your index finger 
on the top of the Softie, place the first joint (seen from the tip of 
the finger) on the top.  The rest of your fingertip then curls around 
the top and -- in some cases -- comes in contact with the top plate 
(for added stability).  When you press down, do so with your *whole* 
finger, not just the tip: the motion still has to be perpendicular to 
the surface of the Softie.

The second part is breathing.  Learn to squeeze the Softie ever so 
slowly while at the same time exhaling.  The exhale should be the kind 
that martial artists do: controlling the flow of air with your diaphram 
(not your lips: if you can exhale slowly with your mouth wide open, 
you've got the trick).  Practice this a few times with no film in the 
camera.  When you get to the point that you are almost surprised to 
hear the shutter release, and it does so in the middle of your exhale 
(which you continue past the shutter release) then you're doing it 
right.

The whole thing should be one fluid, semi-conscious motion.  Yes, it's 
a Zen thing.

Now, imagine Tri-X in an M6, with a softie, a Noctilux, and a 
RapidWinder for balance and added weight (stability).  Candle-light 
portraits at 1/4s at f/1.0 and EI 400 are suddenly very much a 
possibility.

M.

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