Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/11

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Subject: [Leica]Automation does matter(Re: too much fuss (was: RE: Re: [Leica] Image Stabilization revolutionises telephoto available light?)),
From: "Tom Lianza" <tlianza@sequelimaging.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 09:31:35 -0400

Hi all,


Here are two links to images that I have shot with a Nikon 400 VRlens.

www.lianza.org/tlphotos/Nikon400.html

www.lianza.org/tlphots/People and Family/Babygirl001.jpg
(copy the entire link to see the image...)

The picture of the baby girl was shot handheld at 1/20 sec at 400mm in the
standing position.  Image Stablization does matter.  That shot could have
never happened without it.  On the other hand, one might argue that an M6
with the 75mm f1.4 might have achieved the same effect.  I have found that
when photographing children, the shutter sound is a large distraction.
While the f100 is quiet, and N80 is VERY quiet, they are still like gun
shots relative to the M6.

What's more interesting however, from the standpoint of resolution measured
with standard Airforce patterns, this lens had the same cutoff as my 90mm
Pre-Aspheric Summicron when shot on Velvia.  It lost a group when hand held
at 1/10 sec at 5.6 .  When viewed side by side, the images (tripod mounted)
didn't even exhibit a difference in contrast, but I suspect that was more a
case of the viewing conditions limiting the results. These tests are very
subjective and I only use them to have a sense of piece of mind when I use a
piece of hardware.

The point to be made is that Nikon (and I have to assume Canon as well, they
make good stuf) is coupling the VR technolgy with Excellent lenses.  Having
said that, I still wouldn't use the Nikon in a theater or a church setting.
Just too much noise.  I tested a 75mm summilux and I realized that I would
be buying one of those lens shortly. On the downside, that lens costs about
25% more than the Nikon 80-400VR lens.

As an aside, during college and thankfully long after, Ian Lloyd and I would
occasionally go out and take some pictures together.  Today, he his a well
known photographer.

 http://www.geocities.com/~kenghor/article/ian/ian.htm

When I last went out to visit him in Singapore I asked him why he switched
from his beloved Leicas to Canon.  I remember two points very clearly from
that reunion: The quality of the 17-35 zoom and the IS lenses.   He did joke
that he never understood how the damn camera adjusted exposure and it took
him a long time to come trust it, but he felt that the automation allowed
him to concentrate on the moment. During that visit with Ian, we took an
electronic camera out with us.  He couldn't get over the ease and image
quality under mixed lighting conditions.  Of course, the shutter lag made it
impossible to take the concept seriously for professional work, but both
Nikon and Canon recognize that as well.




Tom Lianza
Technical Director
Sequel Imaging Inc.
25 Nashua Rd.
Londonderry, NH 03053

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