I agree with you 100%I'm beginning to think this camera is taking a beating that it doesn't quite deserve.
-Marc
Just in case you're referring to my previous post, I stated that AF is a guide and cannot ever be truly relied upon. I'll stand by that and any search through Vanity Fair, Vogue, Sports Illustrated or any other popuar magazine today will show photographs riddled with focal plane misplacement probably due to over-reliance on AF. Also, I'm sorry to have used the word "professional" because it is probably a much abused term. In a perfect world, I'd like to imagine that a professional would essentially be related to the highest standards in terms of craftsmanship and technique, but unfortunately professional only really refers to a person that's making money with a camera. So I should be more careful to distinguish between what professional means and how it doesn't necessarily relate to excellent craftsmanship and technique. There are a lot of non-professionals that have higher standards of technique and craftsmanship than professionals.The idea that true professionals only use manual focus is odd to say the least. If you're shooting a moving target, wide open, manual focus is a nightmare. Not all "professional" subjects are laying on a shooting table being shot at f/8 or 11, using strobes.
The main confusion that seems to arise in discussions relating to AF is that there is a vast difference between being in-focus and having proper placement of focal planes. Most AF systems are actually pretty good at getting something in focus, but no AF system has the ability to discern focal plane placement. The ability to discern where to place a focal plane rests solely on the photographer and his mind and eye. It's a bit of an art and a developed skill. It's also one of the ways to distinguish good craftsmanship from bad. AF systems can choose focus "points" but they cannot choose focal planes. (On a side note: many people might be surprised to know that a lot of photographers that rely on AF aren't even aware of Scheimpflug. In order to really be in control of focus, a photographer has to think in terms of focal planes rather than focus points.)
If a photographer needs critical focus and placement of focal planes, especially at shallow DOF, then he can't rely on AF alone to get the focal plane in the exact correct position. There will always be a margin of error regardless of camera system. In the times that I've chosen to use AF for shoots in the past, I've generally taken into account the margin of error and factored in the need for much editing at the end specifically for shots that had the best focal plane placement. Of course, a lot of "professionals" nowadays don't really worry about that and they will just choose whatever image has something in focus rather than choosing the images that contain the proper plane of focus. There are types of photography where the moment is more crucial than the sharpness. But still we must distinguish between good and bad craftsmanship even if sharpness isn't always the key factor to the success of an image in the eyes of the viewer.
I believe Leica took the best approach toward focus by providing a smooth manual focus combined with a single AF point. This tells me that their philosophy towards AF is to view at it as a guide (one of several options) and not just a crutch to be relied upon. Of course, this decision might be risky in the current climate that is dominated by photographers that aren't really in control of their focal plane placement. But it's also one of the things that makes the S2 a genuine "professional" tool in my opinion.
OT a bit, but I'd also like to add that there is plenty of room for the old fashioned use of hyperfocal in a modern studio or commercial environment. I've done several shoots in the past where focus for the shoot was decided by an assistant and a tape measure. I wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing with the S2. There are a lot of modern sports photographers, fashion shooters, photoJs and wedding photogs that could probably increase their sharpness level if they considered using hyperfocal technique once in awhile, (even when using their ultra-modern AF DSLRs)
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