Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/16

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Aerial photography
From: nbwatson@juno.com (N. B. Watson)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 13:43:36 EST

I must agree with Eric on the subject of two-ring zooms.  I gleefully
sold my 80-200 2.8 Nikkor when the 2-ring model was released.  I also
used to agree with him on AF (I only shunned Leica R at that time due to
the price) up until the EOS1n/F5 level of AF performance.  Put one of
those bodies together with a 2-ring zoom and you have one frightfully
effective sports setup.  I was a rather good manual-focusser, knew all
the tricks and then some.  I can still out-hit most anyone who is using a
single-sensor AF, or even an inexperienced F5 user.  But that's not who
I'm up against these days.   I read where John Shaw said something to the
effect that he wished all his competitors shot  ISO 1000 film handheld
with a 28-300 zoom.  Well, I wish all *my* competition used Leica R's. 
At least those who aren't as good as Eric.

Regards,
Nigel

On Mon, 16 Nov 1998 08:41:21 -0600 Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
writes:
>>More seriously, I think a manual system like the current R is not 
>much 
>>good for action or sports photography because the "hit rate" is way 
>too 
>>low compared to AF systems. 
>
>Yeah? Well, shoot, I guess the pretty good sports pictures I've shot 
>in the
>past couple of weeks were accidents? Even when I had AF cameras, I 
>often
>turned it off, because in some sports, it's harder to get good 
>pictures
>than not, like baseball. But soccer, for sure, benefits from AF.
>
>As for the two-ring vs. one-touch zoom concept, I'm of two minds. With 
>a
>one-touch, I can't focus and zoom at the same time. You zoom in or 
>out, and
>focus goes off its own merry way. With two-touch it takes a 
>half-second to
>zoom out or in with the thumb. 
>
>It does takes some anticipation. When you see the quarterback lateral 
>the
>ball to the guy who is running at you, quickly zoom out and get ready 
>for
>him to pass by. It takes some knowledge of a sport for sure, but I 
>don't
>find two-ring zooms to be a problem at all, and when turning focus, I 
>don't
>worry about zooming accidently. It's like rubbing your stomach and 
>patting
>your head and chewing gum at the same time. One-touch zooms go in all
>directions at the same time. I don't like them. 
>-- 
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>There's too much blood in my caffeine system.
>

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