Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/17

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Autofocus vs Manual
From: Barney Quinn <barney@ncep.noaa.gov>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 11:45:24 -0400
References: <EC1D893EF5042348ADC8A79B742E9EFB030D6C@GCI-MOCEX01.us.ad.gannett.com>

Let me, for the sake of arguement, put a proposition on the table. I shoot
with M and R Leicas. All I'm using for 35mm at least at the moment. My
wife, like yours, doesn't do all that well with a manual camera. I got her
an automatic one, an Olympus. If I put film in it for her ( she considers
this romantic - go figure ) and LEAVE HER THE HELL ALONE with the grandkids
she takes some really nice pictures.

I'm a do it the hard way kind of guy. I learned on a 4x5 speed with sheet
film, holders, dark slides, etc. The whole nine yards. I firmly believe
that anyone who learns this way will be a much better photographer for it.
But, not everyone (like my wife ) is going to survive being pushed into the
deep end of the pool. They'll get frustrated and find something else to do.
I favor automation becasue it can make photography accessable to a woder
range of people, and I think that the more people we have buying film,
cameras, printers, software, etc, the better it is for all photographers.

What do you guys think?

Barney

Zeissler, Mitch wrote:

> Not to beat a dead horse on the subject, but my wife has a difficult
> time with manual focusing; she consistently focuses manual cameras just
> in *front* of the subject she wants in the plane of focus.  Even with
> rangefinder bodies [IIIf or M3 with M6J finder]; makes no difference
> what make or model, whether she wears contacts or glasses.
>
> This problem is entirely eliminated with autofocus for her.
>
> /Mitch Zeissler

In reply to: Message from "Zeissler, Mitch" <mzeissle@gcipoa.gannett.com> ([Leica] Autofocus vs Manual)