Re: [Leica] Focusing the M6

[Ken Lai <ken@compose.com.hk>]

Actually if you really want to get this focusing right, you will probably
want to use an SLR. I really don't see a way to do this properly on the 'M'
because you can only estimate the true distance after you rotated the
camera. With people shot it is particularly difficult because your subject
keeps moving around which doesn't really give you much time to bracket
focus.





on 25/10/00 10:08 pm, Ted at tedgrant@home.com wrote:

>> Jesse Hellman wrote:>
>>> What is the best way to solve the following: you are shooting close-up,
>>> say at two feet, at F/2 or wider. The closer eye of your subject is
>>> off-center. There is nothing dead-center on which to focus. So you focus
>>> on the eye and then swing the camera back to frame. Now, obviously, the
>>> plane that passes at a right angle through the eye intersects the lens
>>> axis at a distance closer to the film plane than the distance from the
>>> film plane to the eye. The farther the eye is towards the edge of the
>>> film the greater this becomes. With a reflex you can avoid this problem
>>> by focusing on the groundglass.
>>> 
>>> At wide f-stops the depth of field is very small at close distances.
>>> What is the best way to handle this? A lens with a curved field might do
>>> better in this regard than one with a flat field. So as the lenses get
>>> better, this effect has become greater. My own solution is, if it is
>>> possible, to try to set up something (like the subject's hand) where I
>>> think the center would be. But with quick action and more candid shots
>>> that simply is not possible. Or, you could focus a bit closer than
>>> indicated, but that seems like guessing.
>>> 
>>> What do you do? I have never seen this issue discussed<<<<<<<
> 
> Jesse lad,
> 
> your thinking about stuff like this will drive you crazy,  not to mention most
> of the picture taking LUGGERS. However, some of the techie types will love it
> and consider it a mind blowing challenge for about ten days trying to figure
> out the answer.
> 
> When in reality,      Don't think about it!  ...........just shoot the damn
> picture and it works!  The more you think about things like this the more good
> old fashion picture taking time is frittered away! Photography is supposed to
> be a fun thing,  not a morning brain exercise! :-)
> 
> ted  (no medication yet!")
> 
>