Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]George Huczek wrote: <<<<<I suppose it depends on what you mean by SHARP. "Acceptable" perhaps, but not "sharp" is what you could expect with these speeds.>>>>>> George me old son, No I mean it is sharp!!!!!! :) Depth of field is zilch, but what's in focus is Leica sharp! It's a piece of cake when you know how to do it and do it lots and lots of times. Sure there are times when you need a tripod or monopod. But it is quite possible to shoot sharp images hand held at 1/15th. On the other hand some locations state, "no tripods are allowed!" And you find yourself standing there having to shoot "sharp" frames! You better know how and be well practiced or you could find it is your last assignment for the client! They don't pay you to shoot "fuzzy frames" and they accept no excuses! Least of all "they wouldn't let me use a tripod!" I have 16X20 prints in the National Art Gallery of Canada and they don't purchase unsharp photographs-! And many in the collection were shot at 1/15th. <<<<If you want really sharp images you need higher shutter speeds, or a rock-solid tripod at these slower speeds. A Leica M's lack of mirror slap does provide an advantage for hand holding, but not as much as you are suggesting here with reflex cameras.>>>>> Actually there are folks on the LUG who have done mirror up frames at 1/15 hand held with the R8 and I've certainly done them with the mirror flapping up and down with an R8 and we have both got "sharp images". Mine projected on 10' X 10' screen! George, you sound somewhat like one of the techie folks,:) "no offense intended" who believe everything you read and hear; "never shoot hand hold slower than 125th!" Anything below that is "on a rock-solid tripod".:) <<<<Shooting with an M6 handheld at 1/4 s and getting sharp pictures? C'mon, gimme a break!>>>>>> Your right at this speed! But possible! As one is living dangerously at anything less than 1/15. However, it is possible to get tack sharp pictures hand held at 1/4 at f1. Or any other wide open aperture as the aperture in relation to the shutter speed has no bearing on how well the camera was held during the exposure. Not too often, but it is possible if you breath properly and relax your body just as a sniper does, you can do the 1/4 speed and it works!! Not too often. When I unfortunately find myself in this kind of predicament, I shoot several frames to make sure one is going to work. To do otherwise and shoot only one is really stupid! The bottom line is that one hopes we wont get ourselves into this tight a lighting situation too often. For those of us who generally work by the existing available light we, I do, always have a roll of super high speed film in a pocket somewhere, just in case. ted