Yes, I am a cat person, or rather, cats have picked me as their person. If you have cats, then you understand. Making photographs of cats, on the other hand, can be done by anyone with patience and autofocus.
Why autofocus, you might ask? Kittens have a certain propensity to run around chasing everything, changing directions like the best running backs in pro football. This makes focusing on cats and kittens a difficult process. Hence, autofocus.
Yet, I have made countless images of my cats and friend’s cats with a Leica rangefinder. My hit rate when they are playing is not 100%, but it’s not terrible. Most of the time I either focus on where I think they will go, or wait for them to pause for just a moment and look at me. Either way, it‘s good practice!
This particular morning these kittens were in typical playful mode. They are brother and sister from the same litter. I was using the Noctilux-M 35mm at f/1.4 to give me just a little bit more depth of field. I bumped the ISO on the EV1 to 1800 to keep the shutter speed fast, and started shooting.
After only 3 weeks of using the Leica M EV1, I have been using the various settings under focus aids in the capture assistants. This particular time I had it set to “automatic zoom.“ As soon as I started focusing, the EV1 zoomed up to the kitten’s face and I could easily focus on the eyes. Because of the fast pace, I didn’t tap the shutter to go back to the full view. Instead, I pressed the shutter all the way taking the image hoping time would stand still long enough to get it sharp!
The exciting part was what happened as I focused. Many of the current Leica lenses have added a close focus. There is a detent in the focusing when the lens reaches the point where the rangefinder cannot focus closer. But the focus ring keeps turning. When looking through a rangefinder, there is no feedback, the focusing just keeps turning. In the EV1, the focus continued to work. I was continuing to focus, close in, until everything got sharp. This close-in work only functions with an EVF, not a rangefinder. What a super benefit! This makes all the current close-focus lenses work throughout the entire range, not just a portion.
The cat’s didn’t stop playing for a while, and I still missed plenty of shots. Truthfully, if I had set the f/stop to f/2.8, I would have gotten a higher keep rate. At the same time, there is something really pleasing about a shallow depth of field.
I’ve been working on a complete assessment of the focusing aids and which ones work the best for various types of photography, and hope to have than out soon! Until then, it seems to be all about practice, practice, practice!
