Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/20
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Johnny Deadman wrote:
>
> > Beaumant Newhall describes (in his autobiography, 'Focus') a lovely cafe
> > scene where he was with H.C-B and without looking at his camera the
> > exposure and focus were set for a portrait of someone across the tables. In
> > an instant the scene was recorded because H.C-B knew what the exposure
> > would need to be and he knew how to prefocus his camera, these are the
> > techniques of a craft which are sadly not learnt by a modern generation of
> > photographers.
>
> This is not such a pipe dream, actually. If I was shooting with an M I would
> automatically set it for the ballpark exposure when I went into a new
> lighting situation eg the cafe. It would then be easy to focus according to
> scale ("without looking at the camera" is IMHO perhaps a slight
> exagerration). I have some very nice pictures taken in exactly this way.
> Important to be using a 35mm or wider lens, as the framing is pretty hit and
> miss.
>
> --
> Johnny Deadman
>
I would add that my street technique includes setting aperture and
shutter by feel. That short space of 1/50 between 1/30 and 1/60 is a
good reference point. Aperture is set by counting whole or half-stop
clicks from wide open or stopped down. Focus is also set by knowing how
the tab position of a 35 Summicron corresponds to subject distance and
moving it accordingly.
- --
Carl Socolow
http://members.tripod.com/SocPhoto/