Re: was: 35mm Eyes now: AF vs. MF

[pgs@thillana.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick Sobalvarro)]

   From: dlevy@worldy.com.plugplay.com
   Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 18:36:47 -0500

   At 04:05 PM 12/12/96 -0400, you wrote: Didn't many of them use zone
   focusing? I've seen numerous photos which were 'successful', but
   the image of interest was slightly out of focus. Also, in talking
   to older shooters who used a variety of cameras including Graflexes
   and Rolleis at sports events I got the impression that this is what
   they would do and then concentrate on the action. 

Dunno about sports photography but certainly Weegee was known for
setting his Speed Graphic to the hyperfocal distance and using the
"sports finder" and not the rangefinder.  His pictures look quite
sharp.  But there are a couple of other reasons for this that don't
apply to the modern 35mm case.

First, he used honking big flashbulbs.  Many photographers today are
not aware that a big flashbulb produces one hell of a lot of light! --
lots more than most electronic flashes.  We're talking guide numbers
in the three hundreds with ISO 100 film in some cases.  If you used a
G.E. #22 bulb at 1/200 with 100-speed film, and your subject was 20
feet away, you would stop down to f/16.  Most of Weegee's pictures
were taken from closer than 20 feet, so he was probably stopped down
more than that, for pretty good depth of field even with a 127mm lens.

Second, he used a honking big negative!  When you enlarge a 35mm
negative 10 times, you enlarge the circles of confusion on it 10 times
as well.  But Weegee was shooting 4x5 negatives, so his circles of
confusion were not being enlarged very much.

I don't think his technique would apply so well to sports photography,
though.