Any standard 'tests' to see if m6 and 50mm summicron are working correctly?

[Rangeman133]

I recently bought both 'm6 body' and '50mm summicron' from the classifieds here. the 50 arrived yesterday, and the m6 arrives tomorrow.

the brass ring on the back of the 50 is a little damaged, not sure how much (if at all) it would affect the focusing on the m6.

my first roll is gonna be a test roll. i had planned to just take a photo at infinity focusing, and one at close focusing, and a few mid range. would it make sense to alter the aperture for each of these test shots as well? i mean, i figured the best thing, would be to set a ruler on table, and then focus @ f/2 at say '50cm' mark...and then check to see if the camera gets it right. if it works at f/2 and f/16... and focused at infinity and close, does that mean pretty much the lens is working properly at all other apertures and focusing distances also?

guess i'm trying to figure out, what are the best ways to test the lens/body to make sure its all working, for the first test roll...so that all aspects of the lens are covered...all apertures, and all focusing distances.

 

[Rob-F]

That is a good test, just as you have described it, except it would not occur to me to use f/16; f/2 should be fine, to minimize depth of field. Here's another test: Put a piece of tape on the bathroom mirror. set the lens to the 1 meter mark. Move back and forth until you have perfect rangefinder coincidence. Don't move again. Now put the rangefinder patch on the reflection of the camera in the mirror and refocus on the image of the camera. The lens scale should now show 2M. If not, adjustment is in order. This is a good close-focusing test without having to shoot any film.

 

[Rangeman133]

That is a good test, just as you have described it, except it would not occur to me to use f/16; f/2 should be fine, to minimize depth of field. Here's another test: Put a piece of tape on the bathroom mirror. set the lens to the 1 meter mark. Move back and forth until you have perfect rangefinder coincidence. Don't move again. Now put the rangefinder patch on the reflection of the camera in the mirror and refocus on the image of the camera. The lens scale should now show 2M. If not, adjustment is in order. This is a good close-focusing test without having to shoot any film.

thanks for this! I'm definitely gonna do this...would work great for 1.5 and 3m too!

 

[jasonrutter]

What I tend to do when I get a new lens or camera is take the classified section of the news paper and tape it to the wall trying to get it as flat as possible. Dry mounting it to foam board is even better to make sure it is as flat as possible.

I then shoot a series of exposures starting at my widest aperture to smallest change shutter speed to make all the exposures are equal. I normally take a reading of gray card or an incident reading of the light in front of the newspaper. This is to check the sharpness of lens at given apertures and also shows if they shutter is accurate. Be sure to place a post it note as to what your camera settings where in frame before taking the picture that way after processing is clear as to which frame is what.

I then will shoot a series of 10 exposures to place my gray card in Zone 0 to Zone 10 by changing shutter speeds primarily to check to the accuracy of the shutter.

I then use the remaining portion of film to take some images using a tripod. Some close focus, some focused about 3ft, then infinity with an aperture bracket F/2, F/4, F/11. Each being composed according to that my focusing distance.

This normally gives me a pretty good sense of the camera and lens.

 

[John Elder]

Rob F's test is the test I have been using for quite awhile. Use 1meter and 2meters as he suggested. I believe the close focus is calibrated at 1 meter. Also then check out the infinity focus. Focus on the moon. If both check out you are in good shape. On the mirror test make sure you are exactly focuse at 1 meter and DON'T move when you focus on the camera reflection.

 

[loplop]

I used to test everything I bought ad nauseum, new or used. Over the years, I stopped doing this, and I just shoot with a "new" lens, body, whatever, in the normal manner of my shooting. With the first roll, I can tell if something is amiss, as I generally shoot in similar places all the time. If I think something might be wrong, further tests may be in order.

Otherwise, it's a waste of film and time, IMO, not to mention a stress on you "is it GOOD or not??" Just shoot--you'll know if it's good.