Making the best of a M5

[lilmsmaggie]

As luck would have it, I'm the new owner of a Leica M5 w/ 50mm f2 Summicron lens. This is my first real rangefinder and Leica. I'm used to shooting with SLR's and seeing what the "lens" sees.

I'd like to do some street photography but need to understand how to optimize:

(1) fast focusing when my subject may be on the move and

(2) zone focusing when I have a bit more time.

Bottomline - I'm looking for rangefinder shooting techniques.

[ChrisN]

Two suggestions:

1. Use fast film (400 iso), f/16 and set your focus distance to 2.5m using the focus scale on the lens. Your focus depth should then be from 1.2m to infinity.

2. If focusing through the viewfinder, always return the focus ring to infinity after a shot. Practice focusing with a smooth movement, stopping as soon as the images coincide at the correct point. Don't hunt the focus ring back and forth.

But really, for fast action you need to learn to estimate the focus distance and set it by feel, or use the hyperfocal focusing approach described above.

BTW - nice avatar!

[Pickett Wilson]

Congrats on the M5, the best RF Leica ever made, IMHO. Really, the key to using any camera is to practice with it.

Focusing an RF with speed requires that you train your eye and hand to work together without thought. Stand on a busy street corner, no film in the camera if you want to follow through and snap the shutter, and focus on people at all distances. Standing still and moving. A few hours of that and you'll get pretty good at it! It's how I taught myself to follow focus sports stuff with an SLR. I stood beside a busy freeway and focused on approaching cars day after day.

[Richard G]

Congratulations on a great camera. Is the lens a tabbed Summicron? You can get a feel for 1m, 3m and infinity from where the tab is with just a little practice. And don't allow yourself to be slowed down by the meter. Meter once under the covered area or the shady side of the street, and the sunny side of the street, and work with those settings, metering deliberately again only if the light changes.

[lilmsmaggie]

Great tips - Thanks everyone!

BTW - Chris, my avatar is my Chamonix 45n-2.

Dwain

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by Pickett Wilson

Stand on a busy street corner, no film in the camera if you want to follow through and snap the shutter, and focus on people at all distances. Standing still and moving. A few hours of that and you'll get pretty good at it!

IMO, you might as well use film if you are going to stand there all day... never know what you will get.