Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Simon, As a PAW kind of thing I sold my EOS gear and decided to spend a year shooting with a Canon F1, just to see what it was like. The F1, in general, is a great camera, but this one was a bit of a lemon. It was in the shop a lot, so I got to spend a lot of time with my M6. At first I kinda dreaded the thought, even though I have used RF cameras for years. I think that automation has it's place, and I'd even argue that the R8 is a fairly automated camera, lacking only AF. But, clearly, without realizing it, I had allowed all the advertising and hype to convince me that all this automatic stuff was really required to do good photography. It isn't. Once I picked up my M6 old lessons which had been dormant in my mind for years came rushing back. Zone focusing, bracketing, you name it. Reality 101a - if the light don't change and the subject don't move you only have to set the exposure and focus once, for the first shot. It is SO easy to underestimate the M6. It's so tempting to presume that something so simple and so elegant can't do the job. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's an amazingly effective camera. Sure, it has its own learning curve if one is new to it, but so do these fancy new cameras. I think that automation is a good thing when its needed, and I believe in horses for courses. My point is just that it is so tempting for people who have never used one ( and I think that this includes most non-LUGgers who have a lot to say on the subject ) or for those of us who have not shot with one for a while to totally underestimate this wonderful piece of photographic gear. Barney PS - I don't think you wasted your money on a fancy camera. When you need these features you need them. The fact that you could cover a basketball game with a 4x5 view camera doesn't mean it's the best way to do the job. Simon Lamb wrote: > As an owner of a whizz bang camera I sometimes am amazed at how often I spot > meter an area, such as light green grass, set one stop over exposure, lock > it in and as long at the light doesn't change by more than 0.5 to 1 stop > just click away. And to make it worse, use manual focus a heck of a lot. > Sometimes wonder why I paid all that money for the auto stuff. Then again, > if I do not have time for the spot metering, locking and manual focus it is > nice to know I will just about get there in auto mode. > > Simon > > Dan Post wrote: > > SNIP > > > I am amazed that the simple metering system in the M6 works so well when > > compared to the hyper accurate, multi mode, 128 zone, segmented CCD > metering > > with programs that so many 'professional' cameras have now! Most of the > > time, you get better shots just metering for a given situation, and then > > shooting all the frames there at that setting! Yes, indeed, the M6 is one > of > > life's simpler pleasures!