Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]jemmett@frontier.net (John David Emmett)9/7/0110:09 PM > So does anyone have tips for shooting sports with an m6? My first suggestion would be: Don't. I tried photographing a couple of ice skating shows (professionals and olympic competitors skating) with my M3. If I got one frame per roll that was both in focus and reasonably properly exposed, it was a miracle. The problem that immediately became apparent was that with the RF patch in the middle of the VF, it was next to impossible to focus, re-compose, and shoot while the skater was still in focus. The following week I had to do it again at another show. That time I used one of my Nikkormat FTn's, which I realize is an obscenity on this list. The percentage of technically acceptable shots (we won't argue artistry here!) dramatically increased. This was because focus can be evaluated throught the entire viewing screen. Learning to follow focus with a manual focus camera comes pretty quickly, at least for me. The much bigger problem, once I switched to the SLR, was keeping the exposures OK with the quickly and widely changing light levels. In sum, I think Leica rangefinder cameras are wonderful tools. I think flare nut wrenches are wonderful tools, too. Just as I wouldn't want to rebuild an engine using flare nut wrenches (but could if I *had* to), I wouldn't want to photograph fast-moving sports with a rangefinder camera (but, again, I could if there were no other way. Probably). The Leica M camera just isn't the right tool for this job. I'm sure I'll get a lot of flames for this, but it's still, IMO, true. Howard Sanner flagstad@mindspring.com