> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Jim Davis
> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 7:34 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: EOS Why no AF assist light on the 3?
>
>
> > >Just wondering, with all of the talk about the Elan7's AF assist light,
> > >why the 3 doesn't have one. (an IR AF light, I mean) Is that not
> > >considered a pro feature? That's one of the down-sides about upgrading
> > >from my A2. The IR AF assist light really has helped me out a lot over
> > >the years.
> >
> > The main factor is that a lot of people will more likely use fast lenses
> > with an EOS 3, which will end up blocking any built-in assist light or
> > built-in flash. I wish that you could set the external flashes
> to engage
> > the AF assist light only, like Pentax flashes do. I think that would be
> > quite helpful in some situations. I don't think it would cost
> too much to
> > implement, but who knows why they don't.
>
> EOS3 is a pro body, and as such Canon expects a pro to be manually
> focusing when it gets dark. A pro does not want any AF assist light coming
> on, not ever. Af assist light turns an EOS into a point and shoot with
> interchangeable lenses, does it not?
No it isn't. The EOS 3 is already a point and shoot with interchangeable
lenses. Most p&s cameras don't have the feature either, just autofocus, and
they don't have a gazillion a/f points and all the other refinements and
software that makes the EOS 3 a glorified point and shoot with
interchangeable lenses. And please stop being so snobbish about how
wonderful and macho pros are. If they are such superphotographers who don't
need all that sissy automation stuff designed for dummies, then why does
Canon make only p&s cameras at the top of their line? I don't think they
even make a m/f camera at all anymore. Same with Nikon, except for their new
FM whatever that they just resurrected, and that is not being marketed as a
pro line. An infrared a/f assist light is simply an enhancement of the
basic feature that professionals and amateurs alike have embraced for many
years now. Pros buy and use autofocus. It is a high tech enhancement of the
basic camera, and as with all technology, including the basic camera itself,
it has its limitations and is subject to improvement. For that matter,
using a bright light, whether flash o a special a/f light, is an
enhancement, because it allows for autofocusing in situations where it
othewise wouldn't work, but in this case, its limitation is that the older
feature is taken away, and it is hard to control (note that throughout all
this discussion I am the one who has been arguing for more manual
controllability).
Now I do know a very good professional photographer who uses neither a/f or
a/e, and his specialty is photodocumentaries, i.e. people pictures.
Recently he did a wonderful series on an Indian tribe in the mountains of
one of the Central American countries. He uses two old Pentax Spotmatics,
whose meters have long ago stopped working. Theyhave screw mount lenses
even. He has an old Leica, and he just splurged and bought an Xpan. He
learned photography in the Army in the sixties and by the time the new
technology came around he didn't feel there was any value added or any need
for him to learn to use it and overcome its other compromises. It is
probably a matter of habit as much as technique and technology. But the
majority of photographers you see, at least photojournalists, use high end
and sometimes even middle-end autofocus cameras. They and amateurs too can
figure out how to take a picture when the a/f technology can't handle it.
Amateurs can be Real Men too.
So you are completely wrong. The EOS 3 is a point-and-shoot with
interchangeable lenses (and manual controls), and there is no reason why a
pro would never want an a/f assist light to come on. Professional
photographers have always embraced new technology when it reaches the degree
of perfection that helps them in their work. What a pro, as opposed to an
armchair pro, wants is the right technology for accomplishing his purposes,
at the right time and not at the wrong time. Of course there are pros who
have high minded rationalizations for what they do and don't do, and why
other photographers don't get it. In that respect they are a lot like
farmers and fishermen.
By the way, Jim, do you fish?
----------------------------------------------
Gerry Palo
Denver, Colorado
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