Re: [Leica] R8 or Autofocus? AF for sure

[Ted <tedgrant@home.com>]

> > 2) in fast moving actions and the probability to miss outstanding shots is
> > high without AF (prefocussing cannot solve that)

Austin Franklin responded::

> >>>>This 'stuff' makes me chuckle.  I did professional sports photography in
> the
> early/mid 80's and had no problem focusing...nor, obviously, have the other
> thousands of sports photographers who didn't have AF over the years..<<<<<<.

Hi Austin,
I had a smile at it also, as I started my sports photography using a Speed
Graphic sans auto focus and won several sports photo of the year awards. Long
time ago.

However, I think it started me off to learning the sport, a greater sense of
anticipation, being more prepared for the action moment and knowing the sport
and what was going to happen when and where.

This early experience paid off in later years covering the Olympics, Pan Am's
and many other international and national sports events with manual focus 35 mm
gear. Today,  R8's, motor drives and not so fast as my younger day manual
focus.;-)  But it's the experience that pays off at still coming home with
winners!

Yep I explored the quickness of AF but never got into it as it's only required
for some sports and even though lots of the sports shooters today use AF gear, I
bet folks here would be surprised at how many turn off the AF while shooting.
:-) But they also know when it's a good idea to turn it on! ;-)

ted Grant