Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Bego Mario Garde wrote: <<<<<I thought it might be a nice idea to introduce myself*:>>>>> G'day Bego, Welcome, always nice to have a newbie arrive in this fashion. An intro, a few questions and sounding like an all round nice guy! :) >So -- that's how I ended up with my first Leica (M6 TTL chrome with 35 >Summicron Asph.) three weeks ago.>>>> Now that sounds like a good way to enter the Leica world. You realise of course, you're now hooked for life on the "Leica fever!" You and your bank manager will be buying Leica for a very long time. :) You wont be sorry. >>The most amazing thing for me was, that pictures taken with 1/8 sec. at >aperture 2.0 just came out perfect. No blur or anything. I took one picture >of my fiancÈe in a corner of a church, which was only illuminated by >candle-light. But -- Wow! -- perfect shot! Very warm tone, every detail >visible, crisp sharp.>>>>>> If you're just starting to handle a Leica M6 with no fear of hand holding at an 1/8th of a sec and making successful pictures at such a slow a shutter speed, you are going to do very well for the future. As long as you show no fear and at least try it this way, you should also be prepared that at an 1/8th can also be a disaster if anything moves .....unless you deliberately want a blurred action photo. >(BTW -- I ordered a Abrahamsson Softrelease today (i.e. sent a letter to >him). I'm very curious, if this still will improve the outstanding results >with available light.)>>>>>>> It will do that, allow for a gentler release of the shutter. However, it's only a softrelease and even with it, there are limits to how steady you can hold the camera at slow shutter speeds. >In the shop, where I bought my camera I was taught to set the range finder to >infinite, which works great. But the rest of camera-handling still is quite >confusing for me. Should I start with aperture setting over the time value?>> Not sure why they'd tell you to set the range finder to infinite when we usually focus, set shutter speed and aperture for each picture. Your adjusting ability will become second nature with more experience, even though at the moment it feels and seems confusing. Unless I require a deep depth of field, I work with the highest possible shutter speed and the widest possible aperture, in this way you soften distracting backgrounds and maintain a high shutter speed to avoid camera shake. And I might say that could be a 1/8th shutter speed and the lens wide open. However, I suggest you try to avoid really slow shutter speeds, certainly slower than 1/15th, as the chances are you'll have more disappointments than successes. Practice is the big secret, take your time, shoot piles of film and you'll find the M6 will record wonderful pictures for many years. If you have any questions to ask or successes you'd like to share, call the LUG doctors and we'll all help you along to successful Leica photography. Nice to have you along. ted Ted Grant This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler. http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant