[Leica] Re:$99 Samsung

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

From: Don; 

>> My personal choice for a Leica shooter would be
the Fuji F30 which has been recently discontinued.<<

The replacement F31fd is the same camera with some minor improvements.
Plus is has face detection technology. I wasn't keen on that, thinking
it a gimmick.  But it may come in handy. 

Say you want to photograph something, but you want a person in the
photo. You're alone so you're it. Or maybe it's you and another person
and you want both in the photo. You don't want anyone to be in the
center of the frame (normal point of focus on a P&S) but you still want
to be in focus. You set the camera on a tripod, begin the self timer and
go stand in the photo. If  fd is set to "on" the camera will find the
person or persons and set him/her/them as the point of focus regardless
of where he/she/they are in the frame. 

I tried it. It works well as long as the person(s) are facing the
camera, somewhat. BTW, I saw Canon pitching face detection technology in
one of their P&S's on a TV commercial last night. 

I wouldn't buy a camera because of fd technology. But it also might come
in handy for a quick snap of a camera shy person with out their knowing
(i.e. you're shooting from the hip). :-) With a little practice and
understanding it may be useful for street photography.  

DaveR