Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/13
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On Thu, 14 September 2000, Robert Appleby wrote:
>
> Mark, I've often been in situations where I've had to switch between films
> and then forgotten to switch the film speed back. DX coding sounds like a
> good idea to me. Surely the "philosophy" of the Leica M, to make
> photography more direct without lots of fiddling with settings, is well
> served by this feature?
> As for AE, it can always be switched off, can't it? And why would a new
> drive for the M be so appealing while the little motor in the Hexar is the
> devil's work?
> I love using the M (and don't use anything else), but I'm not blind to its
> limitations. I don't presently own a Hexar, but if it came as just the body
> at a reasonable price, I'd be tempted. If it had the F5's light meter in
> it, I'd get one tomorrow. On the other hand, AF is not a feature I'd be
> interested in.
> It's true that in the end everything is dispensable except for shutter
> speed, aperture and ISO settings. But sometimes it's convenient to have
> more features and may make a difference in getting the shot. After seeing
> my wife's results with the F100 shooting moving targets a lot of the time,
> I can see how it's extremely useful for the kind of work she does.
> I think working photographers generally have a pretty pragmatic approach to
> equipment. Why this doctrinaire insistence on limiting the feature set of a
> camera to what the M offers?
> Speak to me, bubbaloo!
> Rob.
>
Rob,
Auto-exposure sounded like a cool idea to me until I started using a camera with the feature. It turned out to be more hassle that it was worth, except for snapshots with forgiving color negative film. The vast majority of AE cameras seem to be designed with the thought that the camera will be used in an AE mode most of the time, and manual exposure is an afterthought of limited value. The one exception I've encountered is the R8. This camera is a delight on manual, and works equally well on an AE mode.
The same is true of auto-focus cameras. The ones I've used assume the AF feature will be used most of the time, and the viewing system is designed for viewing brightness ('cuz the AF sensor sucks a lot of the light away) instead of for contrast and clarity. Manual-focus with an AF camera is dismal, particularly when compared with the R8 or Leicaflex SL or SL2. I was at an equestrian competition on saturday (the boof's first one) and follow-focussing with the SL and 250mm Telyt was not a problem. The other camera I was using did not have nearly as good a viewfinder and sharp focus on non-moving objects was not easy. Every one of the photos made with the SL is sharp.
Too often the addition of automatic conveniences compromises the ability to use the camera manually. I'm not willing to make that sacrifice.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt
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