Kaplan… what a great memory! RIP, Al.
Another similar suggestion I saw in another forum’s discussion on a semi-related topic:
Leave 'em about two stops down from fully open, and with the focus set at a reasonable hyperfocal distance. That way, when you forget about them for 30 years and the basement floods and the lenses seize up from rust and corrosion, they are the most usable in their damaged state.
RF focusing is not as fast as the newer SLR AF cameras and lenses.
They're a pain. First you have to tell the camera what you want to focus on, then focus lock, then hope it will still fire, then hope the subject hasnt moved again. I would prefer full manual, because at least I will know the camera will fire when I push the shutter release.
Gee, I have never had those problems. You should ditch you Canon equipment and switch to Nikon.
I agree with awty that auto focus, or for that matter anything auto is a distraction from the real world and personal control.
AF has evolved massively in the last two decades.
As has autoexposure.
Much less so. Matrix / Multi / Evaluative / Honeycomb etc have been with us since the late 80s and I don't see they've improved much, in fact I would say that cheaper DSLR and mirrorless cameras available new today are not as bullet proof in this regard as the latest film cameras from the early 2000s. AF on the other hand is amazingly fast and accurate even on the entry level cameras, IME.
AF has evolved massively in the last two decades.
"massively"? Certainly you could have found a more gargantuan adjective -- but we seem to be living in an era of superlatives.
It depends on the subject and the brightness of the scene. But zone-focusing is really the best method for street photography. I like a 35mm lens stopped down to f8 or 5.6, focused at about 9ft. Fast film is your friend.
"massively"? Certainly you could have found a more gargantuan adjective -- but we seem to be living in an era of superlatives.
Of course, you are correct. My point was not to quibble that difference but, rather, to make the point, perhaps not so clearly, that auto-everything has evolved to a quite sophisticated state versus the past manual state in which some of us live/prefer.
The best tip I picked up for speedy focusing (from the late Al Kaplan on another forum) is to habitually return your lens to infinity after each shot. Then you only ever need to focus in one direction, and you press the button as soon as the images come into alignment. I find this makes the rangefinder relatively quick. Most subjects are within the first few degrees of turn of the focus ring. By contrast, focusing with micro-prism or ground glass always seems to involve some to-and-fro.
This is the best method, 35mm at f/8+. Set up a chunk of space suitable for what your shooting, usually 6-10 feet, and worry about action and framing.
Would 'significantly' better express the situation?
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