Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/09/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]See pgs 128/9 of the M9 manual downloadable from Leica. http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_5723.pdf Set minimum speed to 1/125 and max ISO to 1200. Save this as a user preset. Use the camera in aperture priority mode: I was incorrect in stating you should use manual mode with the auto ISO setting. Also pay attention to the shutter speed in the viewfinder as the camera will go below 1/125 if it has reached the max ISO and min shutter speed. Let me know how it works! Great story by the way, Bob Sent from my iPad On Sep 27, 2013, at 10:38 PM, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote: > Thanks to everyone who responded to my query. I particularly like Bob's > suggestion to use Auto ISO, a facility I had not thought of using. That's > almost an analog of shutter speed preferred mode, even better, because you > get to choose the aperture also. > > I was so puzzled, because the test shots I did just before writing to the > LUG were hand held, but I was concentrating on being steady, not on the > subject, so I would guess that shooting at real subjects and thinking > about the subject and the framing does not necessarily lead to steadiness. > > This tempts me to tell a story. Some time in the early 1940's, living in > Chicago, I bought a small 35mm camera called, I think, a Wirgin. I also > think it was at a store in the Loop called Central Camera. I felt lucky, > because cameras were damn hard to find then. > > I took it to New York on vacation and shot a set Kodachromes in a friend's > garden. I'm sure I used a shutter speed that was commonly considered ok > for hand-held: 1/25. When returned to Chicago, I took the camera and > slides in to work to show to a colleague. It was a Manhattan project lab, > and one security guard wagged a finger at me for bringing in a forbidden > camera, but he made no more of it. Well, my friend started looking at the > slides with a 20X magnifier and said: "These aren't sharp; your camera is > no good." Then, when he came to the last one, he said: "Hey, this one is > sharp." The reason was that the sun had been going down, and the last > slide was shot on a tripod. > > I was so traumatized by that experience that my minimum speed for for > hand-held became 1/250 for years! It was a surprise to me to find that I > could get sharp pictures at 1/25 and even 1/15 if I was lucky with the M9 > and a 35mm lens. > > Herbert Kanner > kanner at acm.org > 650-326-8204 > > Question authority and the authorities will question you. > > > > > On Sep 27, 2013, at 11:56 AM, Bob Adler <rgacpa at gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Herb, >> >> Since you seem satisfied with the post Leica calibration test shots, my >> guess is it is camera shake caused by the longer lens and heat of the >> moment. My suggestion would be to manually set the shutter speed at 1/250 >> or higher, set the ISO via the menu to AUTO with the max ISO being your >> limit of tolerance (maybe 1200 for daylight shooting, higher for >> indoors), and then simply choose the f/stop as you would on aperture >> priority (which is what you use now probably). So really no change in >> your shooting style. >> >> The only thing I am unsure of on the M9 is whether exposure compensation >> still works when using manual mode. So you may have to meter the way >> older M film cameras did (M6 and after with the built in meter) by >> finding an area to meter and depressing the shutter half way and reframe. >> Just watch your histogram to avoid over exposure. >> >> Walk around and shoot a few flowers and see what you think. >> Best, >> Bob >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Sep 27, 2013, at 10:41 AM, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote: >> >>> Since 99,9% of my use of my M9 (and my M6 years ago) has been with a >>> 35mm Summicron, I confess to being a rank amateur when it comes to the >>> 90mm Chron. After being irritated by too many soft-focus shots with the >>> 90, I did a careful test of a fence from about 12 feet and found that >>> the rangefinder/lens coupling was slightly off. So I sent it in to >>> Leica, got it back about $350 later, checked out out and found it to be >>> spot on. >>> >>> OK, now here's my experience. When I went to the first of two outdoor >>> band concerts in a park, a couple did some very spectacular dancing to >>> the music and I failed to get a picture. So, for the next concert, I >>> brought my 90mm so that I wouldn't have to get under their noses or have >>> to do an extreme crop. >>> >>> Well, the dancing couple didn't appear, but I took a lot of snapshots >>> and every one of them came out very fuzzy. I don't have a record of >>> shutter speeds or f numbers, but I was outdoors at reasonable ISO and >>> lighting, so I assume the I was probably around f/8/of f/5.6 and >>> probably around 1/250. I should have had a depth of field of about >>> twelve feet or more for some of those shots and at least two feet for >>> the close couple I took. None of them appeared to be sharp anywhere. >>> >>> Could it be the increase in the effect of camera shake with the longer >>> lens? I would have thought that the inertia from the extra weight of >>> the lens would have compensated. Yesterday, wondering if the lens had >>> mysteriously lost its calibration, I did a hand-held test at 12, 50, and >>> essentially infinity feet and the pictures were needle sharp. However, >>> to be critical, I did the test at f/2, so I got pretty high shutter >>> speeds. >>> >>> Any advice from users of longer lenses on Leica M series? >>> >>> Herbert Kanner >>> kanner at acm.org >>> 650-326-8204 >>> >>> Question authority and the authorities will question you. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information