Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark and Bob: I have two R8's and an EOS 1N. My wife uses the EOS for baby pictures and I have used it recently along with my R8 for sports pictures. The first thing that comes to mind when using them alongside is how simple and ergonomic the R8 is. Just look at a football game on TV and see all the EOS's on monopods and I will explain a big shortcomming of it. The control panel is on the top of the camera. To see the exposure counter, metering mode, autoexposure mode, and autofocus mode, you must either lower the monopod so the display is in view or take a step back and tilt the monopod towards you. In the R8 all these things are available in the finder and in the case of the counter, it is also available on the camera back at near eye level. The next short comings of the Autofocus cameras is the complexity of the custom functions. Who can tell me what the custom function number is for leader left out after film rewind? I have to look it up on the book. With the R8, it is left out automatically and if you want the leader in, you just press the rewind switch on the winder a second time. Simplicity of mirror lockup is another example. It is a custom function on the EOS (number ?) and just a simple switch on the R8. Try multiple exposures on an EOS. You have to program how many you are going to take, while with the R8, you flip a switch. A final complaint is the Autofocus cameras eat batteries. I used the EOS 1n for three soccer games and probably ten rolls of film and the eight AA batteries in the motor drive are now exhaused. My R8 has probably done fourty or more rolls on this set of lithium batteries. At the local box store COSTCO, the CR123 batteries are about $6 in a package of two. The price on the same brand of AA batteries is about the same. Autofocus camera in sports use eat batteries because you are always using the AF motors in the lens while tracking the action. With the R8, I am using the autofocus motors in my thumb to move the focus of the 400 4.8. My thumb can sometimes be programmed better than the AF lenses are. When following the action for example in a hockey game, your thumb (brain) remebers the position of the net. If a shot is made, you can pan to the net and focus at the same time. In AF, you pan to the net and then the AF hunts for focus in first few fractions of a second. Now for what is wrong with the R8. The camera needs a motor drive for sports. It needs to go on a diet. I was thinking last night that they should offer a motorized version of the R8 stripped of the manual advance and associated gear. With that drag gone, it should be able to do six frames per second and be a little lighter. I actually use the EOS 1n on the Leica 400mm APO Telyt with good results. It is nice to have the fast motor. Below is a link to a picture taken with the EOS 1n, 400mm 2.8 APO Telyt and 1.4 apo extender fo a 560 F4. The image is full size, but was a horizontal shot where I cropped of either side to make it a vetical. It seems to be in focus using manual focus and a long lens with very little depth of field. It was shot wide open and on 400 speed AGFA print film. http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/photography/images/soccer/Oct27.jpg The final complaint is the more normal focal lenth lenses should be a little cheaper. I have argued before that Leica's exotic lenses are not much more expensive than the competition, but it is the less exotic glass that should be cheaper such as the zooms with an F4 aperture. The Canon "L" 800-200 F4 is half the price of the Leica 80-200 F4. When you compare the fast lenses like the Noctilux to the EOS F1 lens, the prices are similiar. The same can be said of the APO teles to the large Teles of the major brands. An 180 APO Summicron with a street price now of $3,600 is not much different in price to the EOS 200 1.8 at $3,675. Regards, Robert At 10:19 AM 10/29/99 -0700, Mark Rabiner wrote: >Ruralmopics@aol.com wrote: >><Snip> >> The bigger issue seems to be the SLR. There just isn't enough to distinguish >> the Leica line from everything else. The mystique will only go so far. Lots >> of slr makers offer outstanding lenses. The photographer looking for the most >> complete/versatle/practical system combined with co-comprimise optics has >> lots to chose from. Leica simply does not stand out of the slr crowd like it >> does in rangefinders (yeah, I know, they were the only game in town so that >> almost doesn't count). One really must ask the question, Why in the world buy >> a Leica R -- OK for many in this group it makes sense but for most mere >> mortals, it doesn't. >> >> Bob (cockroaches, Cher and Leica rangefinders will always survive) McEowen > >Bob! don't you think the R8 is a very unusual approach in design, size and >function for an SLR in today's market. >I think it is just as unusual of a choice as the M and certainly stands out >among the Nikons and Canons. The reason starting with a fondness for focusing >yourself that excludes AF at all: >THE GLASS >Mark Rabiner > >