Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4

The Cyclist.

2018, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M10, NYC, Portrait, Q&A, Sports, Street, Teaching point

This is an uncropped image.  Technically, it’s a difficult sort of shot to achieve focus, not just because of the motion of the cyclist and the small margin of error involved in photographing at f/1.4, but also because the cyclist is situated a little to the right of centre, away from the focus patch of the rangefinder.  To deal with this, some experience and (admittedly) luck, is involved.

Incidentally, the same three issues (quick motion — especially with the subject coming towards the camera, shallow depth of field, and hitting critical focus at the periphery of the frame) can equally frustrate even the most sophisticated autofocus systems.  Interestingly, in these situations I seem to have more success with rangefinders.

Now, if only the distracting car behind her wasn’t there, I might have been satisfied with this image.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M10 + Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4.

Vaseline – Test Shot.

Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M3, Print, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 8200i

People sometimes write and ask me how I test a given Leica lens + rangefinder combination for focus accuracy.

Well, for near distances I trust the good people at Vaseline.

On a related note, I dislike the grunt work of testing film equipment.  The arduous process of developing and scanning film seems even more arduous when the test results are off.  That is why I rarely sell gear that I know is working well (ha, ha…).

Fortunately, this time everything looks good.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M3, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH, Kodak Tri-X 400, and Plustek 8200i.