Re: Different perception with M or R

[Nick Hunter <nhunter1@mindspring.com>]

>Kari wrote:

>>With a SLR all looks clean on the screen (say 50, 85 mm or
>>longer) but in the final image unpleasant stuff pops up from
>>nowhere. Of course if you have time to use dof you can control it
>>but often things happen too fast or it's too dark.

Yes-especially in close up work. When I first began to take flower
close-ups with an SLR, I would get back slides with garden hoses,
sprinklers etc. in BG. I got so upset with myself; how could I have missed
that! Of course I was shooting at f/16 for front to back sharpness, and
using the DOF check.  Finally I learned that when focussing at f/2, The
background was obliterated, while the view stopped down at f/16 becomes
almost black beyond the subject. I always try to look outside the lens for
distractions now, but it's easy to forget.

But rangefinders have their drawbacks, as well:

Lucien wrote:

>Not so easy, because of the parallax with RF

Another lesson was learned when I tried some landscapes with the M-3. The
scene was a dirt road which receded through two trees which had bent over
the road to form an arch. (OK, so it wasn't Half Dome It was still worth a
frame or two.) I measured the foreground and background distance and set
the focus on the DOF scale. Then I framed the trees so the arch would be
just inside the frame. The slides, once again, were a disappointment. The
tops of the trees where they crossed were cut off. The problem is that
parallax correcting viewfinders don't correct parallax, they merely correct
the framing for one focus distance! somewhere about a third of the way into
the picture, on some weeds or something, the framing was perfect. The more
distant background, in this case the more important part of the scene, was
very misaligned with the actual exposure.

One way to solve this would be to use a separate finder in the shoe set to
infinity (or use an R!). Otherwise, to use an M with the built in finder
where focus is close but BG alignment is critical, I figure you would have
to 1)calculate the focus; 2) reset to infinity and frame; 3)lock down on a
tripod; and 4)reset the focus distance. Whew! Anyone ever have/solve a
similar situation?


Nick Hunter