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[OM] Re: oly 35RD--VF and focussing ease

Subject: [OM] Re: oly 35RD--VF and focussing ease
From: Siddiq <iddibhai@xxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 21:45:34 -0700
On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 11:23:55 +0930, Andrew L Wendelborn  
<andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> For your low light situation, the focussing area is critical. You need to
> align images in a small part of the total viewing area, so it must be  
> clear and
> well defined. Some RFs are excellent in that respect (L*ica M3 for  
> example).
> Others are lousy (eg F*ji 645). IMHO the SPn, while not at M3 standard,  
> is
> pretty good.

yes, the focussing area is very small, as i disovered while looking thru  
an ancient yashica something or other in india (my cousins, when they  
found out i was a shutter bug, pulled it out and asked what i made of  
it... that's my ONLY exposure to RFs alas)

>
> I found the SP easy to use at your stated low light condition of ISO 400  
> - f4 -
> 1/15s. At 2s it was still usable, but the 1n / 1-13 / 50f1.8 combination
> somewhat easier. But that's rather dim light!

see, i'm trying to justify, very very hard, an RF purchase, and since i'd  
get one that was CLAed and so forth, it would represent a couple hundred  
dollars easily... the problem i keep running into w/ what i have is, for  
starters, focussing is not easy, but i can manage it w/o too much trouble.  
the hard part is shutter speed, even shooting f/4 (wide open on my wide  
and mid-zoom), at fairly close range (living room, at night, family  
gatherings, casual candids, incand. lighting), i end up dipping below  
1.15sec (i can pull off decent shots above that speed, 1/8 if i try hard,  
below that i might as well give up, the blurry to visible ratio is just  
dismal; all this on 400 speed)


> There's also a wide range of personal preferences. Some people dislike
> microprism, others dislike the "image alignment" technique of RF.

i use the split image in brighter light, and the microprism in dim  
conditions since it is easier to see shimmer/clear over a larger apparent  
area than align a small vertical component.

> Personally, I think low light focussing is just plain difficult. I use  
> the
> 55/1.2 if possible. Or some tricks, like focussing on something bright at
> what I judge to be the same distance. Or use a varimagni. Or hyperfocal
> focussing.

VariMag won't work, nor will "guesstimate or try another object" given the  
shooting conditions outlined above, and DOF is very narrow at such close  
ranges and wide apertures.

> But if you are hoping that the RD you mentioned might make things easier  
> all
> round for low light work cf the 1n / 1-13, I don't think so. But if the  
> RD is
> preferable for other reasons, most likely still usable in low light.

i guess one of these days i will just have to try it out. the problem w/  
local old camera shops which *might* carry compact RFs is that they will  
not likely be cleaned, and therefore will not represent a clean RF image,  
which will make a large difference. and i'd really like NOT to spend close  
to 200 on a cleaned up RF without any idea if it will help me any.

you're down under, but i guess i could try find another US listie w/ a  
clean RF and swap one of my body/lens combos for a week.

-- 
/S
aim:iddibhai
icq:104079359
email/msn:msidd004atstudentdotucrdotedu


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