Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Ted vs "lag time"
From: Ken Firestone <kenf@speakeasy.net>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 07:13:44 -0700 (PDT)

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, Ted Grant wrote:

   
   Hi Frank,
   I'm in the  minority, as I follow along and as the peak is beginning to
   happen I shoot one frame when it does! And if necessary I follow along
   letting the motor pick up the aftermath of whatever happens.
   
   Motor drives, as much an asset as they are for sports, can also be the worse
   thing invented for shooting them. Many of the younger lads and lasses rely
   on the machine gun effect of letting the motor rip off 8-10 frames a second,
   sounds cool, but a hell of a waste of film.
<SNIP>

Ted, 

I remember this fight from the 1960s, when motor drives first
appeared. Those in the know felt as you do. And I think I remember
someone doing a study of the machinegun approach, showing that the
peak of action was no where in any of the frames.

As a disclamer, I was never worth a damn at sports photography, and
developed a real dislike of basketball after being forced to shoot it
in dark high school gyms, midcourt and without flash.   
   
I also had this wierd idea that the main use for motor drives was
taking pictures with a camera that was located other than where you
were. 

And to get back to the original premise, I find the auto everything
digital cameras frustrating, waiting for them to do all their things,
including a 3-4 sec burst of strobe light before making the
exposure. Maybe ok for landscapes, and family group shots, but not
much else.

============================================================================
Ken Firestone, W3CAT     | For every problem there is one solution
kenf@speakeasy.net	 |  which is simple, neat, and wrong.
ken@firestone.net        |   -- H. L. Mencken
============================================================================

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