garyvot
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
|
Pixelpuffin wrote:
Manual focusing a 300mm 2.8 on a moving subject AND being limited by (guessing) 36 exposure film .
Haha, yeah. We had "Intelligent Subject Detect" focusing back then too, just without the "Artificial" part. Focusing was also more consistent: it always focused where you told it to. If something was OOF you couldn't blame it on the camera. 
In all seriousness, follow focusing a moving subject successfully relied on muscle memory and practice. I can't claim to be the best at it, but I had my share of good shots.
One of the reasons it was so hard to switch from Nikon to Canon or vice versa was that the focusing and aperture rings were backwards, haha.
Edit: a couple of fun manual follow focus examples from the extremes of sport from when I was much younger. Getting the softball on the tip of the gloves was impossible at 2fps, so you just had to time it (still blind luck here, haha). To have a better chance of capturing shots like the pass reception, we used to prefocus a 180 or 200mm lens mounted on a second body onto the sideline about 10-15 yards up the field. This would make it quicker to nail focus in if a play came your way. Once in a while, this paid off.
Two outfielders seem to fight over this catch during a girl's softball game between Corona and Norco high schools in Corona, California. (Canon AT-1, FD 300mm f/5.6)
The Rams' LeRoy Irvin attempts to deflect a pass to Atlanta receiver Alfred Jenkins. (Canon New F-1, New FD 200mm f/2.8)
|
