[Leica] autofocus notes

["Gary Klein" <gklein@excel.net>]

On the thread of AF, there are many instances in which I simply prefer to
turn off the AF and use my Canons in manual mode.  One such instance is when
the light is weak at best, where the AF does its hunt and peck dance.

True, my Canon stuff does shine in shooting sports.  Auto racing, track and
field and football do well.  But sports like baseball I don't think it pans
out as well for me.  We shoot a ton of auto racing here as we have the famed
Road America a few miles from my home.   I am sure that with Leica producing
its AF camera, it will be a landmark piece of gear.  I would rather have
them be a little late in the AF game, than to make junk.

Some things that I shoot, the AF doesn't focus where I want to have the
focus.  Many times the time lost due to recomposition makes it really hard
to work in a fluid manner.  And yes I have tried Canon's eye control focus.
IMHO it is somewhat of a gimmick that didn't work well for me.  Now that
doesn't mean it won't work well for someone else, it just doesn't work for
me.

Some of you may be thinking, "He's digging a grave for the M series Leica".
Well as a matter of fact I am not as my M4 will go where autofocus dares to
tread.  From the noise, the size and the optical quality at wide aperatures,
my M really  doesn't have to worry about competitionl.  I took my family to
a dog show in town.  They held it in just about the darkest pit in the city.
1/30 @ f2 with ISO 400 film.  My M4 went to bat and made some lovely photos
of my wife nuzzling a sheep dog that a dog owner let her pet.  I will
eventually post that image.  I would not feel as confident if I had used my
Canon Eos-1 with a 50mm.  I used my M4 with my fabled 50mm f2 summicron.  I
KNOW they will be tack sharp.

Granted in some applications such as in the darkroom, autofocus is
wonderful, particularly when you have to work fast making many many prints.

gck