[Leica] focus fast with your rangefinder.

[Alastair Firkin <firkin@netconnect.com.au>]

Dear all,

This is my second attempt to mail this response - the first one 
vaporized :-(, but as no-one seems to have tackled the question - 
apologies if I'm wrong - and since I've been labelled as an "old" 
lugger or did that start with b, I will have another crack at it ;-) 
Being my second try, it will be long and to many of you boring, but I 
will finally get to the point and discuss "fast RF focusing".

Someone asked about fast focusing with the Leica RF, and because I 
happen to believe the RF leica is the fastest focusing camera of all, 
I'll try to explain. Firstly, you can use your RF Leica for all sorts 
of photography - if I was to keep only one camera, it would be the M6 
(and as many lenes as I could fit in my pockets). I really love this 
camera, but even I understand that there are some types of 
photography better suited to other camera types and dare I say 
brands. So what I really want to concentrate on here is the type of 
photography the RF actually excels in - and to my mind, that is 
"street" photography. When I joined this group, I was not a good or 
even bad street photographer. I loved the work of HCB, but did not 
understand how he could achieve the sort of discrete yet personal 
invasions of peoples lives. I always found telephotos an unhappy 
solution to my embarrassment - the images were very distant, flat and 
never gave you the environment in which the "target" was living. I 
had to get in closer. I tried a short telephoto, but found that the 
victims were just as likely to "spot" my activity and embarrass me. 
Still no good images. My first successful street images came in 
Egypt, when I used a TLR Rollei. The Rollei is quiet, and does not 
alert the subject with the standard raising of the camera to the eye, 
flash and fire routine - in fact in the  2 weeks we spent in Egypt, I 
was never asked for money, and my street images were the best I've 
taken (you can see some on the Rollei TLR club gallery). But the 
Rollei has some disadvantages. With only 12 frames per roll, you are 
more cautious, the camera is larger and heavier, and is limited to a 
single focal length (by and large), and focusing is more critical 
with the limited DOF.

This brings us to the RF alternative. My first RF was a CLE minolta - 
fantastic camera, lousy back up (which forced me to sell it and 
finally pushed me totally away from Minolta). Whist I was using the 
CLE I bought an M3 (because it was born the same year I was - (its in 
better condition) and never really felt comfortable using it. I 
thought the focus was a bit slow, and I really found the lack of auto 
exposure a worrying feature - strangely the images I took with it 
were some of my best, but I never really trusted myself with it. Then 
I joined the LUG. Now I have much more faith in myself, and I try to 
use my skills rather than rely on the on-board wizardry of the newer 
SLR's. My first lesson was exposure latitude - with print film you 
have a stop or two to play with, so relax, and my next lesson was 
focus. I had always strived for perfect focus - why own a perfect 
lens and leave your plane of focus to guess work, but that brings me 
back to HCB.

Some of you will have read my comments on the Tete a tete exhibition 
in Canberra I recently went to, but in summary, these were portraits 
(usually it should be said of willing subjects rather than his usual 
street work) but shot in the same way as his photojournalism - 
"focusing" on the decisive moment, not the correct exposure or the 
perfect plane of focus to maximize bokeh, and his images can be pure 
magic - Ok moma I want to take pictures like that.

My first goal was to estimate light. I carried a small meter around 
with me, would make a guess at the light and test it with the meter. 
Using the sunny 16 rule and adjusting for shadows, made outdoor 
photography at any time but the extremes of the day quite easy, and 
soon I was quite happy to rely on my estimations. Indoors was another 
matter, so perhaps I won't do away with the M6 quite yet ;-) I will 
however give a plug for the external meter of the M3 here - like the 
Rollei, you do not bring the camera up to your eye with the M meter, 
so you do not alert attention. It is a good way of checking your 
light just before you go into action, taking 2 or 3 readings in the 
locale of your subject.

Finally to the focusing - the trick is all about that little tab on 
the focus barrel. You learn to estimate distance, (for me by thinking 
in terms of paces - one pace = one meter) and you learn by feel to 
move the tab into position. I did and do this every time before I go 
away or out to the street venue, sitting in the house moving the tab 
into 3, 6, 9, 12 meter positions. When I started, I used the 35 mm, 
which gave me added assurity with its greater DOF, but I prefer the 
50 in terms of my ability to pre visualize the framing. Now with your 
focus set, and your exposure pre-judged, you raise the camera, and 
shoot. I take little trouble to frame, preferring to fire off the 
first shot and hoping my framing is accurate. When it is not, and to 
start with that was a problem, I may have time to re-frame and shoot 
again, or I may fix the problem in the darkroom. I hope these 
mistakes will lessen with time. Lately I taken to using an external 
50 brightline finder, and I love it. Not only does it make you look 
even quainter, but the effect is like a frame hanging in space, and 
the scene is even brighter than through the camera's viewfinder. So 
far I've always tried to be very accurate with both exposure and 
focus, and given myself as much lee room with DOF as I can. I 
therefore usually use 200 or 400 iso film, and most of this work is 
done in daylight, but with practice, the hit rate has increased, and 
the temptation to go beyond the DOF comfort zone is increasing.

Finally, I have found that the decisive moment does not hang around. 
I used to shoot, and then try to check my focus and exposure before 
taking another image, but I was wasting film. The last "trick" I 
picked up was by seeing the HCB images. I spent some time looking at 
his plane of focus, and found that if he erred - and he often did, it 
was almost always by setting the focus for closer than the subject. 
When you look at the effect of this (and assuming that the subject is 
usually the closest major one to the camera) you will see that the 
subject is therefore in relative focus - relative that is to the 
background bokeh, and therefore quite pleasing. Also, the slight blur 
is quite gentle on the fairer sex ;-) A further "trick" seems to be 
to carefully focus on an element in the foreground and let the 
subject fall into place in his/her environment. So when next I'm out 
in the field, I intend to apply these principles to my working focus. 
I will start by as usual taking 3 or so meter readings, set an 
appropriate shutter speed and vary the aperture according to the 
light falling on the subject. I then set the lens to a distance - it 
used to be the one I expected to most often find a subject according 
to the environment we were in, but next time it will be set to the 
distance I expect my "closest" subject is likely to be, and then I 
watch and observe. If a subject appears, I check in my mind that the 
light is within cooee of correct and the left hand moves the focus 
tab to the distance - never taking my mind's eye off the subject. 
When I see a pleasing and distinctive photo, the camera comes up and 
the shot is made. The camera is brought down just as quickly - I no 
longer try to keep viewing it to check my parameters - and I prepare 
to smile at my subject if they have noticed my actions. Usually I 
then ask if I might take a picture, and I presume they are uncertain 
of whether I've taken a shot or not. I have become much more 
comfortable with taking images of people and then communicating with 
them, and those skills are just as important as the ones I practice 
at home.

Cheers