Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Charles E. Dunlap wrote: >>>>I found that several images I took, hand held at 1/15th were >>>acceptable - >>>>this was a surprise as I was not able to hold an R7 I used to have at >>>>this speed and get much of any image. >>> >>>With which lens were the useable hand held shots taken? They should be >>>fine >>>with the 24mm, but if the ones with the 90mm came out then the result >>>is >>>noteworthy. >>> >>Not so noteworthy - I checked my notes, they were all with the 50 at 2.0. >> But I couldn't HH the R7 with a 50mm and get as good results at 1/15th, >>at least I didn't. >> >>Dick > >Well, semi-noteworthy then! For you, in any case, it's been an improvement. >I shot with a friend's R8 and it seemed very solid and vibration free, but, >honestly, I would really be surprised if camera vibrations were causing >more wiggle than the steadiness of a person's hands at low shutter speeds. >My guess would be that the greater inertia of the heavier R8 body dampens >any hand twitches more than the lighter R7. A telling set of shots a number of years ago showed me what was possible with an M Leica at slow speeds. I was in Hawaii on vacation, and came across a scene in the evening which had to be shot from the center stripe of a very twisty, fairly busy road. I had no tripod with me; and my camera choices were a (non-Leica) SLR and an M4. The SLR had a 24mm lens available as the closest to what I wanted, and the M4 had a 21/3.4. I tried 4 shots with the SLR at f/2 at about 1/2 to 1/4sec, but did not feel that I was getting a steady enough shot, just standing in the middle of the road, breathing properly and squeezing off the shot (I used to do a lot of target shooting in my youth). I then got off 8 shots with my M4 at 1 sec. When I got the shots back, the SLR shots were all terrible. ALL Leica shots were useable, with virtually nothing to decide between them. The film was K64, and I made 11x14 Cibachromes with one of the slides. I'm not saying they were as crisp as if I'd shot at f/5.6 at 1/125sec, but they were better than I could get with my old 35mm Summilux at f/2 on a tripod. Since then I've regularly taken 21mm shots at speeds below 1/8sec, 35mm shots at 1/8 and 1/4 and 50mm shots at 1/8 and 1/15, freestanding without any other support. You don't get them all, obviously, but if the subject holds still, you can do a lot with a 21 at 1/2 sec. As an excercise, I'd like to be able to try an R8 sometime to see how well I do with it in comparison to the M's. On a side not, my other 'M6' (Mamiya) does as well as the Leica, but my Hasselblad SWC (which should be able to do well) is fairly bad, as the shutter release is hard and rough. * Henning J. Wulff /|\ Wulff Photography & Design /###\ henningw@archiphoto.com |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com