Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Can you really focus the Leica faster than a MF SLR in a dynamic >situation (subject, camera, or both moving) ? > >If you know how to do this, is there a trick or two that you use >that you might want to share? > >Any ideas on how to focus quickly in bright light, where it becomes >even harder to discern the rangefinder spot? Focusing speed is fairly difficult to quantify. It depends upon the camera and lens, focusing mechanism and the user. I find the Leica M very easy to focus, either bright sun or dim light, particularly with the 28 or 50 lenses, a little slower with the 90. Mind you, I didn't say fast, but easy. As long as I'm using a 50-135mm lens, I'd say my SLR is faster and easier to follow focus in dynamic situations. With short lenses, it's not as easy to see the focus point accurately. Long lenses always take a bit more effort to focus precisely for me. And the SLR is more dependent upon good light for really accurate focus. With either type of camera, when I'm working with dynamic subjects and short lenses, I usually just use the focusing scale and DOF to cover my focusing needs. In these situations, getting the shot is more important than absolute focus accuracy to me. Framing is another matter. Again, with the wider lenses, the M is easier to frame with than the SLR, but as the lens length goes up, the SLR takes the upper hand simply because the image fills my field of view better. Overall, the SLR is more precise in framing, a rangefinder or scale focus camera's framing idiom is always more of an approximation. For certain subjects, like the 4 year old running towards you, a fast autofocus camera or prefocus is the best option. Trying to follow focus on such subjects is always difficult. This is why there are many different types of cameras in the world. Each has its advantages and disadvantages in certain situations. Godfrey