Low Light Focus Question

Johann Espiritu

Johann Espiritu

Lawyer / Ninja
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Hi all,

Sorry if this post might seem "newbie", but did do a search before posting....

I recently got myself a Leica M7 (love it), after a long career with SLRs.

Using an SLRs AF system in low light is quite staightforward - I use a focus assist beam and it works pretty much every time. Tonight I went to a club with my M7 to try to take some shots. However, since it was dark, I had extreme difficulty focussing on people's faces. To give you an idea, the light available had me shooting at 1/8 at f1.2 (Nokton 35mm) at ISO 800. I kept thinking if I had some sort of flashlight on the hotshoe it would be much easier.

My question: Is there such a gadget, or am I missing some sort of low light focus technique? Help!

Thanks in advance,

Johann
 
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Johann Espiritu said:
the light available had me shooting at 1/8 at f1.2
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Same here, it's far from simple.

At 1/8 you're going to have a little movement blur and camera shake anyway, so you may get away with off focus.

Practice at home or under the house lights at the club and get used to estimating the distance, for scale focussing later.

Focus on something easy at the same distance as your subject. Example, if the bathroom door sign is the same distance as the musician then you focus on the sign, then don't touch the controls and take the photo of the musician.

Occasionally (not in clubs but in the street) I stand where I hope my my subject will be and focus on where I know I will be. Then leave it alone and return to my place in the street and wait for the subject to appear.

Expect a very high failure rate. But if 1 out of a roll of 36 works then show that 1 and bin the rest. Nobody ever knows.
 
I think it just takes practice. You have to wait for people to hold still for a bit, as it takes longer to "converge" on the focus. What magnification is the finder?

One "candle-light"
Bessa R2, Fujicolor 800, Canon 50mm F1.2 wide-open, ~1/8th

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52890&stc=1&d=1197049817
attachment.php
 
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There is a device I think will solve your problem, but you'll have to research the web to find it. It's a small powerful clustered LED accessory light that screws into the tripod socket. It was designed for digicam use to assist with AF focusing in low light when the subjuct is too far for the camera's AF assist lamp to work. Good luck.
 
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Like Brian said. I find it best to prefocus and then move my body to get
the final accuracy I want. Leicas are made for this :)

Roland.
 
Well you cannot go round a club shining a torch at people really.

So you might have to work round the issue and work out how to focus in low light.

Millions (well perhaps only hundreds of thousands) of photographers have done it before, so practice the techniques and see if you can it too.

If at the end of the day you go back to an auto focus camera that's fine. An RF camera cannot always do all we want.
 
It works but is rather clumsy in that you loose the stealth advantage of lowlight photography and you must turn it off prior to taking the picture.
 
Find bits of high contrast such as catchlights in peoples eyes, eyeglasses, noses - you're looking for something with contrast which will 'move' in the rangefinder patch.

That torch thing would be horrible to use :)
 
For me the problem arises with the patch and wearing glasses. When I can not focus under low light conditions I just estimate the distance. When using a Rollei 35 this is the norm.
 
Johann Espiritu said:
Hi all,

Sorry if this post might seem "newbie", but did do a search before posting....

I recently got myself a Leica M7 (love it), after a long career with SLRs.

Using an SLRs AF system in low light is quite staightforward - I use a focus assist beam and it works pretty much every time. Tonight I went to a club with my M7 to try to take some shots. However, since it was dark, I had extreme difficulty focussing on people's faces. To give you an idea, the light available had me shooting at 1/8 at f1.2 (Nokton 35mm) at ISO 800. I kept thinking if I had some sort of flashlight on the hotshoe it would be much easier.

My question: Is there such a gadget, or am I missing some sort of low light focus technique? Help!

Thanks in advance,

Johann
Click to expand...

Is your VF the older one or the upgraded version? And, can someone comment on whether this matters? I am interested because the VF on my M7 will be sent out for the upgrade right after the holidays.

Harry
 
Camerabrights are nice -- I have two or three for other reasons -- but using one on a Leica is sort of missing the point, about on a par with making semaphore signals and firing a starting pistol to make sure everyone knows you are ABOUT TO TAKE A PICTURE.

Cheers,

R.
 
Brian: I'm using a .72 finder. Would a magnifier help?

sitemistic: This camerabright thing looks like it might help. Do you use one? Is there any way to use just one or two of the LEDs instead of all four?

Thanks for the tips, guys!
 
Higher magnification usually helps, but I think practice with it to "get the groove" applies here. I have no trouble with the M2 and its 0.72x finder with the 50/1.2. Using an RF takes some getting used to, you need to think of yourself as "an optical feedback loop", like your AF-SLR's CPU.
 
I think estimating distances for focus at f1.2 is being very optomistic ... Kully is on the right track finding small features that have some contrast ... reflections in objects and glasses frames etc. I had an M7 and I actually found it kind of hard to focus in very low light also.

I'm dreading the day I have to consider going to an auto focus camera in these situations ... it's sort of like giving in to old age! :p
 
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Keith said:
I'm dreading the day I have to consider going to an auto focus camera in these situations ... it's sort of like giving in to old age! :p
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I don't mind autofocus on a Hexar AF :D
 
My advice would be to look for highlights created by the lighting on peoples faces. They will be tiny spots that are somewhat bright and allow you to focus on them. Another cool idea is to look for people text messaging or playing with their cell phones because it's light right in their face.

My advice actually if you're serious about club photos, buy a flash nobody cares
 
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