Re: [Leica] Focus Kindergarten

[John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>]

Hi Sam.

I apologise if you find it stupid but I used every "little grey cell" I had
and can only regret my inability in that department. Perhaps the allusion to
the high brow Austin Powers' movie was indeed the straw that broke your
back. The EOS camera does not know what the intended final result is. Is it
for a 4x6 print? A theatre screen filing slide? A 20x30 print? My point,
given in a tongue in cheek way, was that the simple depth of field scale on
my lenses, missing on almost all of the AF lenses, provides much more
information and is more useful than the "custom function" on Mr.
Fuerbringer's EOS camera. I decided to post in a tongue in cheek manner as I
supposed that Mr. Fuerbringer KNEW this as well and would appreciate the
humour at his expense rather than an explanation which might be taken to
imply he is not a particularly bright young man. Something that I do not
believe to be true nor would I wish to state if it were true.

Cheers

John Collier

I have posted a longer reply to Sam but as stated above I would not wish to
insult Mr. Fuerbringer by implying he needs to have an explanation, I also
have taken the trouble to tone down the language which, quite regretably, I
used in my off list reply to Sam. Oh dear, I possibly have tried to smother
a small fire with gasoline! Haste, haste, how often I regret my haste.

> From: "sam" <salex@idt.net>
> 
> I think that this is a stupid, offensive response to a well-meaning post.
> This kind of smart-ass retort is propbably why so few people post to the
> LUG.
> 
> Sam
> 
>> Hmmm, my M camera has that too. It is called an "aperture ring" that is
>> coupled to a "diaphragm" that is actually inside the lens!! When you turn
>> the "aperture ring" it also opens or closes the "diaphragm" (no batteries
>> required!). When the "diaphragm" is wide open, you get a very narrow plane
>> of focus. When the "diaphragm" is closed to a small hole, you get a wide
>> plane of focus!! Wait....it even gets better. There is a scale engraved on
>> the lens that shows you what will be in focus at the various apertures.
>> Amazing but true!!
>> 
>> John Collier  ;-)
> 
> 
>>> From: ralph fuerbringer <rof@mac.com>
>>> 
>>> canon eos focus feature on all current models beats auto showing of depth of
>>> field described below on the new contax n1. eos's  is apparently patented as
>>> no other system as far as i know lets you focus on the near then the far of\
>>> what you want in focus, instanteously setting the lens for that result.
>>> a nifty offshoot of this is of course minimum focus, to isolate the subject
>>> with lack of dof.  for an environmental portrait in a messy setp you
>>> focus on nose and ear and mess becomes not just tolerable sometimes but
>>> sometimes as soft and attractive as the shape of your iris allows.