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Using the 135apo at the US Open

glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Thought you might enjoy seeing the M8 and the 135apo used to shoot tennis. More shots at my website...the images are up but some need to be reworked a bit .
 
P

panyawong

Guest
Roger,
I like the shadow during service on the second picture. Very nice.
Regards,
Panya
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Thank you ...for the kind comments. I like the images from the high seats as well. The point of the post though is really about focusing a rangefinder on a moving athlete . If you used the 135apo on an M8 you may wonder if it can be focused on a stationary subject. The 1.4x magnifier helps and then its a lot of practice ..prefocus ,anticipate etc.

This was actually great practice for my street work. After a few days of shooting tennis...my focusing speed and accuracy improved quite a bit. So it was a skills test as well as a lot of fun.
 
S

steflaurent974

Active member
Congratulation Roger, I love the two shots. The first one is a perfect action shot with crisp focus wich we all know is really delicate with te 135 !!! And I love the second one for its graphic style.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Wrong lens to use!! :ROTFL:

The first shot here makes that young lady look older than Billy Jean King showing all sort of wrinkles.
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Appreciate the kind comments . The close up shot is a demonstration that you can "nail the focus" using the 135apo on an M8. (Its not a good use of the M8 and I could do much better with my D3 and longer AF lenses because I could better eliminate the background clutter.) The image is pretty close to full frame about 90% as I wanted to shift the player to the right of the frame. The technique to do this requires (1)that you can spot focus to an point of the return and (2) that you can time the shot to catch the ball near the racket . The only advantage you have is that tennis movement can be predicted.

The next set shows the requirement to frame accurately ..the second new image is 100%.

The first new image ,from the upper deck in Arthur Ashe Stadium , was close to my first pick. Bigger image and better action..flying "pony tail" .....but sun on the face won the selection. Now if I was shooting for Sports Illustrated ( in my dreams ..right) I would have used a 400mm from the same spot. In fact the SI guys were shooting from my exact location .

I wasn t sure that I could make the 135/m8 work in these situations but I found that with practice , the infocus hit ratio continued to improve. When I shifted to the 75/2 for the night matches the results improved again. I did this to improve my street photography capabilities .
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Roger, My earlier post wasn't negative. The lens is amazingly sharp and with your technique you demonstrated how good it really is. Fabulous shots.

Really enjoyed. :)
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Vivek I didn t read your comment as negative.. I was trying to stress that images selected were intended to demonstrate a capability of the M system verse a here are a few nice photos.

The focus challenge of the stadium shot is there is nothing to focus on. You can focus on the ground and estimate how much to back off . I didn t quite nail the running forehand ..you can see the shadow is sharpest.

Appreciate the comments .. Roger
 
Lloyd

Lloyd

Active member
glenerrolrd said:
Appreciate the kind comments . The close up shot is a demonstration that you can "nail the focus" using the 135apo on an M8. (Its not a good use of the M8 and I could do much better with my D3 and longer AF lenses because I could better eliminate the background clutter.) The image is pretty close to full frame about 90% as I wanted to shift the player to the right of the frame. The technique to do this requires (1)that you can spot focus to an point of the return and (2) that you can time the shot to catch the ball near the racket . The only advantage you have is that tennis movement can be predicted.

The next set shows the requirement to frame accurately ..the second new image is 100%.

The first new image ,from the upper deck in Arthur Ashe Stadium , was close to my first pick. Bigger image and better action..flying "pony tail" .....but sun on the face won the selection. Now if I was shooting for Sports Illustrated ( in my dreams ..right) I would have used a 400mm from the same spot. In fact the SI guys were shooting from my exact location .

I wasn t sure that I could make the 135/m8 work in these situations but I found that with practice , the infocus hit ratio continued to improve. When I shifted to the 75/2 for the night matches the results improved again. I did this to improve my street photography capabilities .
Click to expand...
Not only great stuff, but very inspiring. I typically opt for the Nikon and long glass when shooting sports. I've done some with the Leica, but I need to try more. BTW, the first shot here in this post is killer!! :bugeyes:
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
The key learning ..that I hope to share with this thread ..was that you can shot "action" with an M. Frequently I speak with photographers that say " I can t focus anything longer than a 50 " . Its not easy but it can be done and it will improve your accuracy and speed at every focal length.

I started working on this to facilitate a better travel kit. With the 135 I could have a 180FOV and avoid carrying a DSLR in addition to my M8 s . So the prize would be everything from 16 to 135 (24-180FOV) in a small Domke.

The initial effort was a nightmare in calibration issues (and this was with 2 M8 s that were beaten into shape over a year). DAG calibrated my 135 ..three times...and told me he couldn t reliably focus it even with a special magnifier. Finally using my body we got it to focus on both his M8 and my M8.2. The images in my example we taken on my other M8.2 calibrated by Leica. It was the equipment ! but we finally resolved it.

The second issue is being able to see well enough to focus. This requires getting the correct diopter and using the 1.4x magnifier. If the subject is stationary ..you can stack a 1.25x and a 1.4x...this is how you check calibration at near distances.

Finally you need to work hard on technique and practice ... a lot. This is what I was so pleased with....after shooting tennis ..... capturing street action was a lot easier. Shooting a 75/2 wide open at night was easier than the 135 in daylight.

For anyone obsessed with the issue of focus accuracy....take a look at the Leica factory video (I think its on DP review)..and see how Leica is now testing the new M9 calibration. This is the testing that was needed when the M8 was released..but it now appears to be exceptionally thorough (encouraging).
 
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David K

Workshop Member
Great shots Roger and I'll bet it was a lot more comfortable to carry that kit than the D3 and 200-400 zoom :)
 
F

fultonpics

New member
your first elena shot is nice. is it cropped or fill frame? did you sharpen at all or use any shadow-fill? just wondering. it is so hard to get these with everything dead on--looks like you did it. sorry for the dumb questions but i just can't tell with web shots--i imagine the original files are killer
 
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