Re: Autofocus could be dangerous...

["Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

Gary Todoroff wrote:

>> Actually, a fairly well-known photo was taken at that track, well before
>> any autofocus cameras were invented.  This was at the old Nurburgring,
>> which was 14 miles long and had something like 170 turns - the new 'Ring
>> is quite sad compared to the old one.  Anyway, the photo is of Jim Clark
>> cresting one of the many rises in the track, his Lotus 25 suspended in
>> mid-air.
>>
>> -Dave, photo and F1 enthusiast
>
>In 1968 my Swedish work ID card that said "Photocopist" was close enough to
>"photographer" to get me a press pass to the 1000 km of the Nurburgring
>(two black M2's around my neck definitely helped the impression). Fences
>were practically non-existent, and my wanderings around the track brought
>me to that same crest (mentioned above) where many cars would momentarily
>leave the ground. The sound was awesome too, as engine rpms would increase
>suddenly as the drive wheels left the ground. My best shot is of the
>winning Porsche Carerra 6 with daylight showing under all four wheels. I
>was rooting for the beautiful Ford GT40's of that era, but Porsche
>outclassed them that year, placing first and second.
>
>I was using an Elmar 90mm, still have the slide today, and was surprised
>three years ago at the Porche museum near Stuttgart to see an almost
>identical shot of a late 60's racing Porsche flying over the same hill.
>
>"Prefocus" was standard procedure with race cars, tho I imagine if you were
>shooting down the middle of the track as a car approached at 150mph,
>autofocus would help. But no doubt, neither you nor the camera would
>survive anyway.

I took lots of car racing photos in the 60's, including Grand Prix and
Can-Am. Definitely no autofocus; I shot most with a Visoflex on a IIIg and
Ig with 200 and 280 lenses; other lenses went down to 28mm. That certainly
required planning and pre-focussing. But while some of the camera technique
held me back from getting a whole lot of good shots, my best now are not
better than my best back then, but a lot of that is due to the easy access
to trackside and other vantage points I had then. During Can-Am races, for
example, it was possible to get into the pit areas during races and shoot
from a distance of a couple of feet while the crew were dealing with the
car. Now the best view you have of a race is from your couch while watching
the race on TV.

If I had an F90s Nikon, or F5, with autofocus lenses in a similar range,
AND if I had similar track access to what I had back then, I could take as
good or better pictures. It's not that autofocus is absolutely necessary or
better, but it is one more thing that allows a photographer to get the
desired image, in focus and at the correct instant. It took Leica quite a
while to put a sophisticated light measuring system into the R system; it
took them quite a while to iron out TTL metering in the M, and it might
take them quite a while to put an R or M quality autofocus camera on the
market, but if Leica and 35mm photography survive, autofocus will come to
Leica. I'll bet on it - but hey, I might not live long enough to collect on
the bet. :-).


   *           Henning J. Wulff
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