Which camera

[Robert]

I was photographing my nephew this afternoon, a young boy, very active in a room with a large bay window.
The day was dull and I didn't use the room light.
I used the G2 with 90mm and 45mm lenses. The reason being fast focusing. The problem I had was the very dull viewfinder.
Another option would have been the M6 with a much better viewfinder but with very slow manual focusing.
Perhaps the best of all would have been my Olympus E1 with it's bright viewfinder and fast focusing and instant playback.
It just goes to show no matter what rangefinder camera is used there can be issues with it.

 

[tkluck]

There is only one rule when photographing children:
Murphy's Law.

 

[jlw]

Unless the Olympus E1's AF system represents some kind of breakthrough over the best that's available from Nikon or Canon, I suspect you would have run into problems with the AF system wanting to focus on well-defined objects in the background, rather than on the somewhat amorphous shape of your nephew.

And judging from my own experience, the moment you had your nose glued to the LCD taking advantage of instant review would have been the moment he did something irrestibly photogenic!

Sometimes you just have to take what the situation gives you, and camera choice doesn't make that big a difference.

What I sometimes do in this type of picture-making setup is pick the spot in the room where the lighting, background, etc. are most likely to make a good picture, then wait for something to happen in that spot. Of course, you can only do that if the politics of the situation permit you to pass up a passel of opportunites for "acceptable" pictures in the hope of getting one really good picture -- but life is a gamble, after all...

 

[erikhaugsby]

"very slow manual focusing"

:bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
the focus throw from 1m to 5m isn't that far...

 

[Robert]

I am slow at focusing the Leica, I am more happy at taking static targets than moving.

I really should practice more.

Probably most people act instinctively and focus instantly. Unfortunately I'm not one of them

 

[RayPA]

A trick I use for shooting subjects like this is to focus to a point (a good comfortable distance) and leave it there. Then move your body toward or away from the subject to maintain that distance as the subject moves around. Then all you need is a quick trigger finger. 🙂


.