[Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V2 #172

[Mike Johnston <70007.3477@compuserve.com>]

 Ted,
 About handholding speeds, I have a kinda funny story. 
 First, I should point out to the LUG that many people PRACTICE handholding at
slow speeds. H.C.-B. was said to train like an athlete--lift dumbbells, abstain
from coffee, and try to get to bed early--because it helped him handhold down
to 1/4th regularly. One of our Contributing Editors, Carl Weese, was an
Olympic-level archer in his youth, and claims he can handhold to 1/8th using
breath-control techniques he learned in archery.
 I remember reading a practical test in _POP_ or _Modern_. It was one of the
old sages, Keppler or Schwalberg or maybe Goldberg, I can't remember. The test
involved take a big piece of cardboard and punch small holes in it with a
pencil, then put a bright light behind it, so the effect was like a "field of
stars." Focusing the camera very carefully first, the idea was to make a
succession of exposures at successively slower shutter speeds; an examination
of the negs or chromes later was supposed to make it obvious to you just when
camera-shake was setting in.
 One very interesting conclusion of the magazine's tests was that most people
handhold most reliably at _middle_ speeds--1/125th to 1/500th. At faster
speeds, camera shake increased slightly again--not grossly as with slow speeds,
but noticeably. I think they ascribed this to internal vibration in the cameras
they used.
 I never quite bought the whole test idea, because I know, from experience,
that I can handhold to different speeds on different days. After a while, if
you pay attention, you are able to "feel" it when you shoot--you have an idea
(not very accurate sometimes) whether you nailed it, or moved it. And that's
where my story comes in. When I first read that article, I decided to make a
quick test of my own capabilities. I grabbed a ND filter and went outside and
focused on a well-sunlit bush with lots of fine detail. I made a succession of
exposures down to one second.
 But I *knew* as I shot that, for some unknown reason, I was simply handholding
rock-steady that day--totally uncharacteristically <g>. Sure enough, _all_ the
exposures down to 1 sec. were needle-sharp. I knew for sure they would be; I
could feel it as I shot. 
 I really had to laugh, because I'm a coffee drinker and I *know* from
picturetaking epxerience that my handholding ability is average at
best--mediocre is more like it. With a 35mm lens, I can only handhold down to
1/30th reliably--I try 1/15th often, but it's an adventure and I lose shots. So
why did I manage the trick that one day? I have no idea, except that the gods
are imps! 
 So my "test" was meaningless and I never repeated it. It "proved" I could do
something I can't! 
 <g>

 --Mike

P.S. Danny, many thanks for answering my question about the 40/M6!