Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/02/24
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Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 02:38:10 +0000
From: "joe b." <joe@azurite.demon.co.uk>
I've read here that the R7 has improved mirror damping and gets sharper
hand held shots at low shutter speeds than the R5. What I'd like to know
is; how low are we talking about here- can I use this camera hand held
at 1/30th or 1/60th with a 50mm lens and make a sharp 12 x 18" print?
And- how does the R6 compare in this respect?
The Eastland book ("Leica R Compendium") doesn't mention any
particular change in the R7's mirror damping, but of course that
doesn't mean there hasn't been a change. Most books on the reflex
cameras simply emphasize that mirror damping has been a feature on all
the Leica reflex cameras, and they say that that's really wonderful.
Because I haven't used Japanese 35mm SLR's since I was a teenager,
it's hard for me to evaluate this little bit of cheerleading about
Leicas. Perhaps mirror damping is something that is merely to be
expected on modern 35mm SLRs, like having a film-wind lever instead of
a knob. I have used a Pentax 6x7, and while I like that camera, that
mirror surely does make a hell of a whack compared to my Leica R
cameras (it is of course a bigger mirror).
Anyway, to answer your question about handheld shots with the R6. I
have an R6.2 and find I can make sharp handheld exposures with a 50mm
lens as low as 1/30, if I'm careful about it. There may be a
difference between the R6 and R6.2 in this regard, though, because the
R6.2 supposedly has a lighter shutter than the R6.2 (according to the
Eastland book, the lighter shutter and improved governors made it
possible to achieve a 1/2000th speed and higher accuracy), and a heavy
first-curtain impact can also cause some loss of sharpness.
I do find that the mirror prefire is very useful, and along with
proper viewfinder information (like what shutter speed I've set) it's
the thing I most miss when I'm using my R4s.
... The extended low-light meter
sensitivity of the R6 is a factor as low-light photography seems to be
my thing nowadays.
With regard to meter sensitivity the R6 is also a little different
from the R6.2 and either does a better job of low-light metering than
the R7:
The R6 will do EV +1 to +19 in spot mode at ISO 100
EV -1 to +19 in full-field mode
The R6.2 will do EV +1 to +20 in spot mode
EV -1 to +20 in full-field mode
The R7 will do EV +2 to +20 in spot mode
EV 0 to +20 in full-field mode
Hope you find this useful.
-Patrick