Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 19-09-1998 03:13 Alastair Firkin wrote: > >Last week, I was trying to capture the dogs at play, using the R8 ---- >managed to capture the backs of their heads every time. I said to H that >this was the first time the mirror delay had been so obvious to me. The SLR >was easier to move the focus with the dogs, and it was good to be able to >keep the camera up to my eye and compose througout, but I missed the shot >;-( This weekend, I'll try again with the M. > Now, that proves there is a need for autofocus in some instances. Had a similar experience myself. At the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, there was a nice squirrel coming just in front of us. I quickly aimed the "shot" with my R8, but the moment I fired I knew things were wrong: indeed the focusing was not correct (too hastily - and I am normally very quick at that). No time for a second chance: the squirrel was off - so I was beaten by the squirrel... :-) Boy, did I curse for not having AF at that moment. On the other hand, of all my films shot during our holiday in the Italian Alps, not a single shot was missed due to inaccurate focusing or inaccurate exposure (using a mix of zone metering and spotmetering). So it really all depends on the subject. AF would be a major bonus in about 10% of my shots, especially fast moving subjects (like playing children or squirrels...) and indoor-shootings in low light where it is not always easy to focus precisely (the M6 rangefinder is much easier for that kind of shots), and I often just rely on the distance settings on the lens barrel (luckily enough, these settings are quite accurate on Leica lenses). Pascal - -------------------------------------------------------- Check out: http://members.xoom.com/cyberplace/ - -------------------------------------------------------- Macintosh PowerBook G3 - it eats Pentium notebooks for lunch - -------------------------------------------------------- <<< PGP public key available on request >>>