Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]<html> It's always been fascinating to me how few people intuitively grasp RF focusing. Over the years I've handed one sort Leica to many dozens of folk and invariably hear "how do you focus it?" That's understandable enough, but what surprises me is how often these people, even with an explanation, fail to <i>see</i> it. I hold up a pencil or a finger, or some such sharp-edged thing, and say "turn the focus ring until the images match." Even this sometimes fails to work, and a more detailed explanation must then follow.<br> <br> I wonder whether photographers who habitually use RFs tend to process the visual field in such a way as to emphasize strong verticals and horizontals or clearly demarcated ranges of tone or color. RF compositions, then, might feature rather more dynamic interplay between pictorial elements than images composed upon ground glass (as in SLR and most large format viewfinders), and it's precisely this graphic character that we characterize as a "Leica look." RF photographers looking at photos composed by other RF photographers tend to look for and find the visual cues that we use as focusing aids in our <i>own</i> compositions.<br> <br> If this is plausible, then it make sense when Leica users claim that they <i>see</i> something in Leica images that they don't see in Nikon or, say, Canon images, and when SLR users dismiss this as nonsense. RF users sense the absence of focusing cues in SLR images (at whatever level of self-consciousness), while SLR users, who don't employ the same sort focusing aids, see no especial difference between the images. This explanation would settle a lot of arguments, it seems to me.<br> <br> The larger point, then, is that one can train oneself to use both systems, but that it does require a distinct shift of perception to <i>see</i> in RF, as it were.<br> <br> I'm moderately confident that there's research in the psychology of perception and information theory that could account for what I've described.<br> <br> Don't want to invite flames here; just wanted to philosophize a bit.<br> <br> Chandos<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <blockquote type=cite cite><blockquote type=cite cite>I have used a 75<br> Summilux for 18 months, but have not yet learned to focus properly.</blockquote><br> You just have to either be able to, or you can't. Theres no trick. <br> </blockquote><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <div>Chandos Michael Brown</div> <div>Assoc. Prof., History and American Studies</div> <div>College of William and Mary </div> <br> <div>http:<a href="http://www.wm.edu/CAS/ASP/faculty/brown" EUDORA=AUTOURL>www.wm.edu/CAS/ASP/faculty/brown</a></div> </html>