I find it difficult to focus at night. Are there techniques (tricks) that can help me improve?

Happy Holidays

Tony

-- Anthony Yau (tonyy88@yahoo.com), December 24, 2001

Answers

a lot of practice, and a good target. Still supposed to be better than an SLR (unless that one has an IR assist).

Seriously, pick your best target and practice. Vertical columns, geometric patterns (but not repeating, patterns would overlap). The very best (near perfect) rangefinder target is an x-shaped design, slightly at an angle -- the focus point snaps in, much better than aligning vertical lines, and the near/far triangles are of distincly different sizes and angles converging to the point in the rangefinder. Only trouble is, you rarely find that as a nicety, but a slightly tangential line (back of bench) intersecting a vertical pole works pretty well, especially if you are not on the same horizontalplane (looking down?). You may then need to shift frame to your intended subject (that is -- substitute a good target at same range as the poorly deifned one, then rotate to action -- also good for the "sneak" shots). I find most faces difficult in dim light, and am tempted to focus on the eyeglasses, which is wrong.

Also, with enough practice on technique (carry your lens set to infinity, then as you swing your camera up to postion, move the lens from infinity to an estimated focus) many Leica rf users find that can focus within a few inches in that time of swinging the camera up (how far to turn it is a learned reflex/maneuver). This really works, as long as you don't put your Leica down for weeks at a time. In many Leica lenses, the circular throw of the focus ring is the same for a fixed difference -- that is, a 30 degree circular motion of my 35 & 50 & 90 all will set focus pretty much the same place. That is the fast, practiced way. Also, for low-light stuff (without tripod), slow shutter speeds will deshaprne your picture, subjet matter is not deigned to be prsiitnely sharp to the normal human eye, etc. -- so absolute precision is less of a requirement (some will haughtily laught that the M is the best for this, and precision is a must).

The Voigtlander 25 has some click stops, so infinity, 3 m, 1.5, and 1 meter can be set in the dark. Of course, the wider the angled lens, the less precision needed.

-- Lacey Smith (lacsmith@bellsouth.net), December 24, 2001.

With faces in the gloom, focus on the line of the eyeball and lower eyelid. Works quite well for either eye unless the eyelashes are exceptionally thick. But this is rarely a problem with the lower eyelashes.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 25, 2001.

Carry around a small microfiber cloth, and make sure you keep the rangefinder and viewfinder windows spotlessly clean.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 25, 2001.

What Mani said - absolutely and entirely. If you're a specs-wearer you'll need to keep these clean too (wipes can be quite useful and take up little space). Also make sure your eye is correctly orientated behind the camera (I like to make sure my cheek is touching the camera in landscape mode). Also try Lutz's rangefinder anti-flare thingy or a small piece of black tape in the illuminator window (about the size of the r/f patch) - both make the frames and patch less visible but counter the flare which you can often get in low-light/ high contrast situations. Hope it works out - I find my m6's (when clean) much better for low light focusing than any of the slr's I've owned (although the R8 is very very good in this respect)

-- steve (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), December 25, 2001.

I find it hard to focus on the eyes if the subject is wearing glasses. So, I focus on the eyeglass frames, then lean forward 1/2 inch.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 25, 2001.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Tony

-- Anthony Yau (tonyy88@yahoo.com), December 26, 2001.

1) Pre-focus by scale before raising the camera to your eye. An out of focus rangefinder is more confusing than an out of focus SLR, more so in low light.

2) Focus on the eyes, as others have remarked.

3) Take your time.

4) Practice. Practice until your Leica and you are faster than a pointNShoot.

-- Tom Bryant (boffin@gis.net), December 26, 2001.

I don't find it difficult to focus at nite but my eyes are not your eyes.

If it is a matter of not enough light then look for a bright area elsewhere approx the same distant to the subject you want to take. Focus on the brighter area then point back to your subject.

Or if it is dark everywhere your last resort will be to make a mental estimate of the distance to the subject and adjust your focus ring to the approx distance. You can practise on bright days ie estimate the distance mentally, then focus using the rangefinder, then see how good your estimate actually was.

-- Yip (koklok@krdl.org.sg), December 27, 2001.