Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/08/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Over this past weekend I shot a Watercross race for my newspaper. For the paper, I used the paper's D-1 with the 300mmf2.8 ED-IF lens. I also wnated to shoot some film so I brought along my EOS-1 with a 300mmf2.8L EF lens and my R8 with the 280mmf2.8 APO Telyt. Watercross is where they race snowmobiles across water. It seems so unnatural, but these sleds easily exceed 70mph in sprints and are impressive when they race the oval course! I shot the "must have" with the D-1 and I was very unimpresses with its meter. If I had trusted its meter, I would have consistantly been underexposed. I used the replay feature to tweek my exposure and things worked out. Note, I used manual exposure mode with the autofocus set to continuous. The autofocus is quite good, but at large aperatures and a long lens, the focus point may not be where it needs to be. The EOS-1 is an older generation of autofocus, but it still can deliver. The meter is very good and the handling superb. The use of the E1 booster gives a quick motor response with good cold weather performance. Maybe it was the 90F+ temperatures, but the battery gave out after the first roll. Without a spare battery, I put the camera back in my truck. After the Canon battery died, I took the R8 with the 280f2.8 APO-Telyt on the Leica shoulder stock. This combination of an superb camera with the best metering of the 3 cameras I used, a superb lens with manual focus that allows focus to be placed where it should be. The shoulder stock really allows much better follow focus because you can move more freely, unlike a monopod or tripod, unfortunately the whole package is still heavy and your arms will get a workout! I've used the D-1 for the past year and a half, the R8 for 3 years and the EOS-1 for more than 10 years. Conclusions: All systems are superb in their own right, but.... the D-1 matrix metering is not all its cracked up to be, the image quality of the D-1 is quite good, but pales compared to the film/scanner images, the autofocus of the D-1 is good, but manual focus is superior, the ergonomics of the EOS-1 are second to no one but the display lacks a lot of information, the EOS-1 autofocus is a little bit slower than the D-1 but still useful, the R8 gives a photographer a robust platform that is simple to move around with, gives a readout of all relavent information and is just plain simple and effective, the optical quality of the Leica lens is markedly superior to both Nikon and Canon (there is nothing wrong with the Nikon and Canon lenses, Leica is just better), though I shot the R8 in manual, I found it easier to concentrate on the shot, not having to sacrifice composition in order to keep the focus sensor on target. The motorized R8 is about the same size and weight as the other two systems and was my clear favorite. It has everything I need and everything I want in an elegant and deceptively simple package. Regards, Dave Strang