Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I had dinner with my folks a couple of weeks ago, and decided to try using the Unlika Leica (Nikon Coolpix 990) as a Leica-style available light people shooter. Which it ain't. The exposure times were absurd. Autofocus sometimes worked, sometimes didn't quite. Even at noisy ISO 400 and the lens locked wide open at f/2.5 - 3.5, I was getting mostly 1/15 or worse. I lost some lens speed because I had to use the zoom--it is simply not polite to climb over one's octegenarian parents and their friends at the retirement home during dinner. This is the best of the lot, overall (my mother and a friend): http://www2.2alpha.com/~pklein/family/6462EmAndFriendSmall.jpg My mother-in-law listening intently: http://www2.2alpha.com/~pklein/family/6452AdaSmall.jpg My Dad, a retired theoretical physicist, lost in thought: http://www2.2alpha.com/~pklein/family/6441MiltSmall.jpg The rest are all a little motion-blurred or not-quite-focused, though I was able to get a few that were OK for family memories. Next time, it's back to the Leica, 400 film and an f/1.4 or f/2 lens. This experience makes me admire even more the available light pioneers in the 1920s and 30s, with their hypersensitized ASA 80 and 100 film and f/3.5 and f/4 lenses. The Summar must have seemed like science fiction when it came out. - --Peter Klein Seattle, WA - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html