Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sandy, I made the transition from SLRs to Leica M in April of this year. Clearly, there is a learning curve with this camera, and I have my share of misfocused shots to prove it. But now I find the M (especially the M3) easier to focus in challenging light. So the word is practice. As another respondent mentioned, most amateur SLR users have relatively slowish lenses these days, as the 28-80mm zoom has replaced the fast 50mm as the "standard" lens, which means that you are always working with considerably more DOF than with the typical f1.4 or f2 Leica lens wide open. In this respect, the 1.4/75mm Summilux is quite challenging. It could be that you rangefinder is off, certainly. The one on my M6 was and I had it fixed. You can check by setting your lens at infinity and focusing on an object really far away; for checking it at close distances, you need your sturdy tripod and a good test object. Some people use newspapers pinned on the wall; I prefer one of my wife's antique dolls. It has lots of fine details; I focus on the eyes and shoot away, that way I also have some idea of DOF. And the doll being a doll, it does not move ;-) Nathan sandyquandt@centuryinter.net wrote: > Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to "ask first and forget the archives." > (I hesitated initially, since, at a web site that I frequent, individuals are > often chastised for asking a question that could have been answered by doing a > search.) In reading all of the focus alignment posts, I've become a bit > nervous, since I, too have found that focusing is more of a challenge with the > M6 than with my SLR system. I had been attributing this step in the learning > curve to the fact that I wear glasses and am used to using an eyecup on my F5; > seems as if I'm sometimes contending with extraneous light bouncing around in > the M6 viewfinder. For those of you who acquired the M6 after primarily using a > SLR, did you find that it took awhile to become accustomed to M6 focusing > (especially in low light)? Just how pervasive is the misalignment problem? I > plan to do the tripod test as soon as my RRS plate arrives; however, in the > meantime, should I be concerned about alignment problems, or am I experiencing > normal challenges inherent in a system change? > > Thanks for any advice, > > Sandy (who's already trying to decide which lens to order next....) - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium Photography page: http://members.tripod.com/~belgiangator/index.html Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html