[Leica] Focus Question

["William H. Cassing" <wcassing@elkgrove.net>]

sandyquandt@centuryinter.net wrote:
> For those of you who acquired the M6 after primarily using a
> SLR, did you find that it took awhile to become accustomed to M6
> focusing (especially in low light)?

Before I bought my M6, I had owned lots of TLR's and SLR's.

I have been very fortunate in that the owner of the store where I buy 95% of
my photo equipment (except film) is a Leica user.  Manfred has been very
generous about sharing his time and expertise.  One tip was to meter and
focus horizontally whenever possible, then turn the camera to compose a
vertical shot.  This has been especially helpful in low light photography.

I never realized how "simplistic" instructions, e.g. "Move your left hand a
bit to the left and rotate your left wrist counter-clockwise a little bit,"
could be of such tremendous help.  Before I began using the Leica, I had
forgotten that it actually was possible to take acceptable pictures at
1/15th of a second - hand held!  All in all, it took me about four to six
(24 exposure) rolls to get the hand of metering and focusing.  Sorry I can't
couch that in terms of time, but the hands' on time with the camera is
what's really important, not the hours/days/weeks you have the camera in the
bag.

I don't know how I ever managed to use a heavy, bulky SLR.  (But to tell the
truth, I kind of miss the joy of [occasionally] using a high quality TLR, no
matter how bulky, inefficient or "technologically challenged" the camera
is.)

Bill Cassing