Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A great deal of the "look" of Capa's D-Day pictures comes from the fact that an overzealous darkroom technician left them too long in the film dryer and melted the emulsions - leaving most of them unprintable. This would have happened regardless of what camera he was using. Bryan - ----- Original Message ----- From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2000 12:26 PM Subject: RE: [Leica] Thanks!! OT Nikon F5 > Aw, come on...THE Life photographer at Omaha Beach, Robert Capa, got some > iconic images - but I would argue that they are iconic images precisely > because they came from the early hours of Omaha Beach...to argue that he > wouldn't have done infinitely better - under those circumstances - if he > could have kept the cameras dry enough - with a couple of F5s or EOS1nVs > and wide aperture AF zoom lenses, is ludicrous on its face. Yes, manual > focus cameras are wonderful tools. Yes, Leica rangefinders are wonderful > tools. But some tools are better for some sorts of photography than other > tools. And on Omaha Beach, an autofocus, motordriven, matrix metered, tool > that would let the photographer simply concentrate on making the image and > saving his skin, would have been INFINITELY better. > > B. D. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > > [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Robert > > Stack > > Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2000 10:28 AM > > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > > Subject: Re: [Leica] Thanks!! OT Nikon F5 > > > > > > Greetings Simon. > > I think you answered your own questions. Before computers in > > cameras,autofocus and motor drives, photographers measured the light, made > > exposure decisions, pre focused, etc. I don't think there were too many > > problems that the Life photographers on Omaha beach couldn't > > overcome using > > their manually operated cameras while dodging all forms of nasty > > stuff from > > the enemy above. Not the same as photographing a fast lion, I grant you, > > but tough to do nonetheless. And they succeeded brilliantly! > > Bob > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Simon Lamb" <s_lamb@compuserve.com> > > To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > > Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2000 5:33 AM > > Subject: Re: [Leica] Thanks!! OT Nikon F5 > > > > > > > Uwe > > > > > > OK, so that I can understand how non AF people operate is fast action, > > what are > > > your (and the groups) opinion on this. > > > > > > You are tracking a lioness stalking a hers of wildebeest and > > you know that > > you > > > are going to see a high speed hunt in action. Suddenly the lioness > > accelerates > > > and gives chase, dodging this way and that as a single young wildebeest > > tries to > > > evade capture. The action is happening realtime and sometimes > > the animals > > are > > > passing behind trees. > > > > > > Do you use your super SLR with predictive AF, focus lock-on so that you > > don't > > > refocus when the action goes behind obstacles, colour metering > > so you can > > forget > > > about exposures as they will be spot on and high shutter speeds because > > you has > > > 400 film in the camera and don't have time to change rolls. You get 36 > > frames of > > > action captured in about 4 seconds, five seconds to change to new film, > > and off > > > again. > > > > > > OR > > > > > > M6 or R8 rangefinder/manual focus camera with none of the above. > > > > > > Now, don't shoot me down in flames. As I have said, my new M6 is great > > and I > > > love it but it is not the tool for the job IMHO for the scenario above. > > My F5 > > > is. So, as so many have said before, the picture counts and I know what > > will > > > give me the best chance of getting it. > > > > > > I would be interested in finding out how others with M6 or R8 would > > approach this > > > situation. I know that many have said they were sports action photogs > > before AF > > > existed, so I would be interested to learn of any techniques that could > > work in > > > this type of scenario. > > > > > > Simon > > > > > > Uweflammer@aol.com wrote: > > > > > > > <<If you don't need AF on your rangefinder system why would > > you need it > > on > > > > your > > > > SLR system?>> > > > > > > > > According to my experience, AF only makes sense if i can see > > what the AF > > is > > > > doing, and so i need the SLR focusing screen to see this. This was the > > reason > > > > why i did not by a Contax G2, although this system is well made and is > > sold > > > > for a reasonable price. > > > > > > > > Best regards > > > > Uwe > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >