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court, shooting in manual focus has always been king,” he says. “However, I have not always got it right and those few occasions are still irking even after 30 years. “Autofocus is getting there and sometimes I’ll use it if I have repeatable scenes so I can focus on framing. Employing a focus puller in the filming I do would be a tough call; the lenses are often long – occasionally up to 800mm – the depth-of-field is small and the subject is moving at pace. “A still I took of Peter Schmeichel saving a goal in 1995 won first place in the World Press Photo sports category and an International Olympic Committee ‘Gold Lens’ award. I was sat next to another photographer, who was using a new autofocus 400mm f/2.8, while I had the manual focus version. My shot was pin on the goalie, his autofocus hit the back of the net leaving the goalie soft. So my photo took the accolades around the globe,” says Spurdens. “Autofocus has come on leaps and bounds since and my Canon EOS R5 C with the RF 100-500mm is lightning fast for stills and sticky on the subject. Would I use this facility in a one-off shot when an actor is giving his career’s best line? No way! “We are lucky to live through such an amazing technological industry revolution but I for one would be happy if everything went back to manual and film! It seems technology is both a blessing and a curse, as is everything. Thank God we still have a story to tell.”
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