Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 11/22/99 7:58:14 AM, doug@meditor.demon.co.uk writes: >In churches and > >museums, the f1 50mm Noctilux became the de facto standard lens, with > >typical exposures of 1/30 at f1 with Kodachrome 200. More often than I > >liked, I had to hand-hold 1/15. I realize that this group considers the Noctilux to be the answer to all low-light problems but considering the subject seems to be somewhat static -- churches and museums -- and assuming for a moment that we're not talking fleeting expressions and the like, wouldn't a better approach be f 5.6 at 1 sec. with a tripod -- even a Leitz table top pod? Isn't a little bit of depth of field desirable when shooting architectural interiors. IM(not so)HO, a decent $100 tripod will do FAR more to improve one's photography than a $2,000 lens. I shot some night/streetlight/Christmas light stuff recently on 100 ASA film with my M4-P and 35mm summicron (as well as with my Nikon F3 and a Bronica SQ). I never opened up wider than F 4.0. I was working at shutter speeds of 1 to 8 seconds but by using good tripods I had great stuff. Some images even had people in them and by firing when the folks were settled I even got some reasonably sharp human elements. BTW, the Summicron performed admirably -- The stuff shot with the Leica seemed to have more detail in the shadows than the Nikon stuff. The Bronica images won hands down, though. Bob (considers f 2.0 to be fast) McEowen