Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi i believe lea's qn deals with how slow focusing is, not how to focus correctly.(judging from some of the responses..) Lea, the trick to quick and accurate focusing is actually very simple - to know your lenses VERY well. There usually is a favourite distance for each of the focal lengths you shoot at - find out wat it is. 1. Keep your lens focused to infinity always when not shooting through it - then u only need to turn it in one direction whenever u need to focus - no more trying to guess which way to turn the lens in the heat of the moment. 2. Learn to judge distances. If you judge the subject to be just one 1-2 metres away, turn the focusing ring from the infinity position the correct amount to the 1-2 metre mark - while lifting the camera up to your eye. How? You need to know your lens very well - so well in fact, you can adjust the focusing tab to the 1-2 metre range without even looking at the lens. In fact, if u're using a tabbed lens, this is even easier - simply memorise the position of the focus tab for the common distances you shoot at eg 1m, 3m, 5m etc. This common distance you shoot at varies according to the focal length of your lens, of course. 3. Taking step 2 into account, you should have reached the 1-2 metre mark by the time the camera gets to your eye. Simply fine tune the focus by looking at the rangefinder and line up those double images. You shouldn't need turn a lot if u got the initial distance correct - a simple nudging of the focusing ring should be all that is needed. 4. If u're using a wide angle lens, (eg 35mm and below), just line up the images and shoot. Absolute exacting precision is not necessary - do the images line up to your eye? if so, take the shot. If u're using a fast 50mm or a longer lens, or shooting your lens wide open, you may want to be a bit more careful about ensuring the images line up correctly. Even then, dont' worry yourself silly about whether the images are lining up to a precision of X%.... 5. Learn to anticipate and be on top of rapidly developing situations. Set focus to desired ballpark range for POTENTIALLY interesting situations before they happen. You will get a feel for that with experience. Learn to set focus while not even lifting up your camera to your eye. Then at the precise moment, lift your camera up to make final exact adjustments to line them up in the rangefinder, compose then shoot. The key is to practice until all of the above becomes second nature and u can do so without thinking :) enjoy! don't sell that M6 just yet! Boon Hwee - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html