Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/03/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>I second your thoughts on Leica AF. There are way too many people with >sizeable investments in their R lenses to willingly replace them for an AF >lens. I think Leica will go along the lines of the Contax AF. The supposed >reason why the AX is so thick is the built in macro capability (extra 10mm of >back travel) that the camera has. I would gladly live without this capability >to get a slimmer camera. > >After the introduction of the R8, I asked why they didn't put focus >confirmation in the camera. The response was that they could have, but it >would have taken longer to reach the market. Would we rather wait another two >years, or have a new camera now (1996). > During a recent trip to photograph the Karen tribal people in Thailand, I am glad I brought along my G2 instead of my M3 (which I used last year on a similar trip). I found the following advantages of the G2 compared to the M3: 1. The AF helped a great deal in low light focussing. Some of the shots were of people sitting behind kitchen fires at night and their faces were barely illuminated. The G2 can focus in complete darkness and did a good job getting those faces in focus. 2. The auto exposure ensured that I had 100% printable negs. The M3 and hand held meter gave me about 80% printable negs last year. 3. The winder helped me in getting good action shots and facial expressions which would have been missed if I needed to manually advance the film each time after exposing. I was worried about the ruggedness of the G2. Although my personal view is that the M3 is a more rugged camera, I did bump the G2 (+35 planer and 90 sonnar) around during the trip without any obvious ill effects. On one occasion I even dropped the G2 on soft ground denting the hood, but the camera is still performing nicely. I believe Leica should get an AF RF/SLR out into the market soon. Many of us are getting long in the tooth and weak in the eyes and would welcome the advantages that AF has to offer. I often ask myself: How can one continue to happily use a camera which will give blurred shots due to eyesight problem when there is an alternative loaded with extra features? Dan K.