[Leica] R7 at the Hong Kong Rugby 7's

[Cummer Family <cummer@asiaonline.net>]

Dear Luggers,
Just back from the full Hong Kong stadium (40,000 people) and day two of
the Rugby 7's. This event is a world class rave and I recommend it to any
luggers passing through HK the end of March as a great photo opportunity.
Shot two rolls on my recently acquired Schmidt demo R7, mostly with my
"new" old APO Telyt 180 f3.4 demo lens, a few with the 100 APO Macro
Elmarit R, and one or two shots with the 28 Elmarit R. This year the Leica
R kit replaced my usual Nikon F100 and 80 - 200/2.8 autofocus lens. The
rotation of the focus on the APO Telyt is very short - just over a quarter
turn from 15 feet to infinity - and I found it quite easy to follow focus
using the microprism focusing screen (thank you Joseph and Adrian for that
recommendation). Without motor drive I took fewer pictures but I am hopeful
that some will be "keepers" and illustrative of the special quality of
Leica glass. I was shooting mostly at 1/1000 at f5.6 to f8.0 in program
mode with Fuji ASA 400 colour neg film.
I noted that the Nikon AF crowd of professional sports photogs has been
just about completely vanquished by Canon. The big cream bazooka zoom
lenses on Canon film and digital bodies were everywhere. Some photogs
appeared to be uploading pictures through their laptops to the internet
even as they were shooting. Everyone used monopods too.
I am unsubscribing for the next few days and will be at the Holiday Inn in
Chengdu for four days, starting tomorrow, so if there are any Luggers in
Chengdu (Jonathan Kott where are you??)please leave a message at the hotel
and perhaps we can get together.
Cheers,
Howard.