Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/07/19

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Subject: Re: SLR's
From: FKemper@aol.com
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 13:29:40 -0400 (EDT)

In einer eMail vom 13.07.97  04:37:44, schreiben Sie:

<< "How good is modern autofocus?"
 
 I plan to go on to the African subcontinent in the coming 12 months or so
 and will be wanting to document the people, flora and fauna, but animal
 photography is obviously a "must". Will a modern autofocus "track" a moving
 critter with a 200 or 300mm lens. I need practice with the system before
 heading off, and unless Rollei is going to come up with fast
 solution------?
 
 OK that's enough. First things first, then we can get down into fine
 details, and interchangable wish lists. How good is modern Autofocus, and
 will I just have to buy one to find out?
  >>

Autofocus usually is better than you are - that is the truth. Last weekend I
attended a truck race and used my just recently purchased Minolta
Dynax/Maxxum 7xi to take photos of trucks speeding around the track with 100
mph. Although the Maxxum xi AF system is state of the art from 1993, it
easily solved the task and delivered sharp pics under changing conditions. If
I were you thinking about buying a new Rollei Camera system I would seriously
consider buying a Canon EOS 1N outfit instead. Canon seems to be the choice
of the sports photographers, with some Nikon users added. The EOS 1 N
features five AF sensors, which you can choose manually or have them
activated automatically. The camera is capable of shooting about 5 fps with
full autofocus support, even if the object is moving very fast. The lenses
have a built in ultrasonic focussing drive, which enables you to focus
manually without swwitching AF off, when the camera cannot focus - simply
grab the focus ring and turn.

The new Nikon F5 seems to be comparable with the EOS 1N, but most of the
Nikon AF lenses have no built in focus drive, so they are noisier and
somewhat slower than the EOS lens range.

Frank