[Leica] Shootout - L vs N

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

While I know full well that the automated tools have produced many a
"really special" picture, there are indeed times when doing it manually
is preferable to depending upon automation - and produces better images.
Where we part company is when you contend that those really special
pictures require a tool optimized for manual use - many a really special
picture has been produced by high end auto lenses focused manually. But,
obviously, if you have found that for your really special pictures you
require manual focus lenses focused manually, then that's what you
should be using. :-)

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Doug Herr
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 8:44 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Shootout - L vs N


My experience exactly.   The automated tools help you produce the goods
quickly and easily but the really special pictures come from doing it
manually, requiring a tool optimized for manual use.

Have you posted these pictures yet?

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



on 2/28/05 2:48 AM, Rick Dykstra at rdcb37@dodo.com.au wrote:

> Having discovered this magical puddle on the boulder out in the 
> forest, and the incredible variety of birds that are attracted to it 
> if I top it up with water, I spent the weekend standing on a stool 
> behind Leica and Nikon lenses.  On the Saturday I was in an Ameristep 
> Outhouse blind with my head jammed up in the attic - bit hot it got, 
> when it was sunny.  So on Sunday I tried without the blind - and most 
> of the birds were happy to play regardless - at a distance of only 2.5

> to 3 meters.
> 
> I started with the apo telyt 560/5.6 and R8 and found trying to focus 
> on birds doing spins in the puddle nearly enough to give me a cerebral

> hemorrhage.  I didn't feel like I was getting many keepers so on 
> Sunday I dragged out a F5 and 300 AFS, hardly used since my soccer 
> photography days.  It was very good for that so maybe I should give it

> a go with 'da boyds'.
> 
> That Nikon made me feel like the God of Photography, on steroids.  
> Damn this is easy.  The 300 plus a 1.4 converter -  faster than my 560

> so more wriggle room in the changeable light.  I machine gunned a pair

> of little thornbills as they splashed water over each other.  Great 
> fun.
> 
> So I got four rolls processed today, two from the Leica gear and two
> from the Nikon.   With the Leica I got about 5 keepers from each roll,
> vs about 8 with the Nikon, which had felt better than that.  I'd been 
> using the F5 on focus priority mode and so it only fired when it was 
> happy, as I was with each shot.  And it did achieve focus with each 
> shot, but not necessarily on what I would have liked - the bird's eye.

> When it missed, it didn't miss by much, usually picking up the 
> feathers just in front of the eye.  Whereas my misses with the Leica 
> gear were usually by more.  But a miss is a miss is a miss.
> 
> Two shots stood out head and shoulders above the rest, of a White 
> Eared Honeyeater and a Scarlet Robin (boy did I get a surprise when 
> when that guy jumped into the viewfinder!).  And, both were taken with

> the Leica. It was the ease of focussing anywhere on the screen that 
> made the difference.  No dicking around trying to get the sensor in 
> the right place.  Complete freedom with composition.  Neither shot 
> would have worked with the Nikon as the sensors were not where I 
> needed them.
> 
> So, I have a good number of very engaging and useable photos from the 
> Nikon, and a couple of absolute crackers from the Leica.  Those two 
> shots did feel good as I took them - I remember saying 'Yes!' under my

> breath.
> 
> The moral?  Autofocus maketh one a God - not!  :-)
> 
> Rick.
> 
> _______________________________________________
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