[Leica] Any tips for focusing a Leica SLR in near darkness???

["Wang, Albert" <Albert.Wang@ibx.com>]

Hi fellow Leica-ers,

Lately I've been shooting Fuji color film in various settings with my
recently acquired Leicaflex. In this case I've been shooting in near
darkness with lots of shadows and fairly little light during the late
evening outside around the Philadelphia area. I've used the Nikon 8008s in
similar situations in the autofocus mode and most of the time, the
program/shutter priority/aperture priority modes can't focus in near
darkness because there are no clear edges for the "computer chip" to
identify.

Now for the big question: What are some visual cues that you use to focus
say a Summicron on R4 in near darkness? Do you look at the edges of objects?
Do you point to an object in more lighting which you think is about the same
distance as the dark object and then recompose the shot?

And the other big question is the following: What is the amount of latitude
that you can have on the focusing ring and still keep the object in focus?
For example, I notice that I can move the focusing ring about 2mm left or
right and the object still seems to be in focus. Apparently I can understand
immediately why the rangefinder is better in that respect :) especially in
lower light settings. Any tips on focusing "exactly" with say a R4 or R8 in
dim light?

Thanks again :)

sincerely,
Alfie
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