Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/07/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>You cannot compare a R8 with a F5 or a Eos 1N, as the Leica lacks autofocus >and an integrated motor drive. Why not compare it with the (older) Contax RTS >III. German magazine FotoMagazin has done so: The Contax won... While autofocus is nice it is not essential. Speaking from personal experience I have shot as many, no more, good action shots with a manual focus camera than I have using autofocus and I use EOS gear, allegdely one of the best autofocus systems out there. I personally think that if you are a sports shooter you know how to keep the player, race car, whatever sharp simply by adjusting focus as you shoot. After doing this for a while it becomes second nature, kinda like someone who shoots with a pump shotgun can shoot as fast as someone with an automatic shotgun. Plus with a bright viewfinder and a long lens it is EASY to see when you have focus esp if you have switched the screen to a plain ground glass screen. For my really long glass I have an old Canon FD 400 2.8 L and F1n&motor and I have no trouble keeping NASCAR race cars sharp with this setup even with a 1.4 converter on it-shooting manual focus as the FD stuff was not autofocus. I have photos of football players with fingettip catches using manual focus and a 400w1.4x converter as does anyone who has shot sports. Back when I shot NFL football every Sunday/Monday night it was played I was using manual R6es and a fellow photographer was using EOS gear. If I missed a shot it was only slightly out of focus, If he missed it it was so far gone you could not even tell what he was shooting at. I would much rather know a shot was blown because I screwed up than the camera decided to focus on the stadium seats or some such thing. The main thing that Leica has incorporated into the R8 that has been missing from their cameras is the high speed flash sync and good TTL metering for flash-at least this is what I have heard as I have never seen an R8. Now the lack of a motor ....well that is a pretty major short falling on the R8 IMHO. Harrison McClary hmphoto@delphi.com http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto