Focusing Suggestions?!

infrequent

infrequent

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Sep 22, 2007
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finally put a roll of neopan in my hexar rf and mid roll i am running into few focussing issues. now i understand why folks rave about the large rf patch in the leica cameras! in most cases i am able to see the double image and focus it but in some instances (flowers moving with the breeze, moving cars) i can't seem to distinguish between the double images. what's the solution here...hyperfocal? any other ideas?! i hope my eyesight is not that bad!!
 
I love my newly acquired HRF but the standard issue net eyepiece power is -1 diopter vs only about -0.5 for the Leica M or Minolta CLE. Unless you're a little nearsighted (uncorrected) or under the age of early 40's, this -1 diopter has about the same effect on viewing through the finder as being middle aged and trying to see small print without reading glasses, i.e. a little blurry. If that's the case, try using a +1 diopter eyepiece lens with the Hexar. Unfortunately, the only way is to get a Leica +1 D eyepiece and use it with a megaperls adapter. Before buying these items, go to a drugstore or optician and try viewing through +1.00 diopter over the counter reading glasses or "cheaters" to see if it works far and near.
 
I had major problems before my cataract surgery. My solution was a special pair of glasses. The right (finder) eye had a lens which permitted me to see clearly, through the finder, objects about 1.5 metres away, while the left had my usual near vision prescription so that I could read the small lettering on cameras and lenses. I wore these glasses around my neck on a thin cord. I had earlier had a terrible time hunting for diopters of the appropriate strength.
 
I have the same problem ... my left eye which I use for shooting has a long distance contact lens in it whereas my right eye is set for close work. It's a pain in the butt because I'm left eye dominant but I get a much clearer image through the viewfinder with my right eye. It's worse on my Hexar than any other camera I use for some reason so obviously the optics of the Konica's viewfinder are a little different!
 
There's also a matter here of focusing technique, even given good eyesight or the correct diopter. Things with repeating patterns, moving things, or things with no clear vertical lines, often present difficulties in RF focusing. I may turn the camera so that lines in the scene will be visually displaced by the RF patch, or I'll focus on a substitute item the same distance away. With experience comes skill, don't despair!
 
Fred, my implanted lenses are set to sort of middle distance. I have a pair of glasses for use with the computer, another pair for reading, and a pair of bifocals which I wear when on the road. While just walking about, I do not need glasses. I no longer need correction when looking through a finder, but without assistance I cannot read the small lettering on cameras and lenses. I understand that there are now two kinds of implantable lenses which to some degree mimic the eye's natural lens.
 
In my experience, the Hexar RF is particularly sensitive to the positioning of the eye behind the viewfinder. You can only accurately focus when your eye is exactly centered. This demands special attention in case you're using a 28 where the framelines are very far apart or if you're trying to keep an eye on the shutter readout on the extreme far left; that invariably makes you move your eye around and wander away from dead center..
 
Peter's right about that. It's always best to try to keep the eye centered so the patch is evenly illuminated. To be more precise I also make sure the eye is positioned so I see about the same amount of the outermost framelines in all four directions.
 
You're welcome. The headlights of oncoming vehicles used to practically blind me, and I had a good bit of trouble working at the computer. Moreover, my glasses prescriptions kept changing as the cataracts developed.
 
Also I must be good centered on my Bessa R VF to be correctly focused, but sometimes it is impossible. So, my two eyes are cataract surgered, but this have nothing in connection with focusing the Bessa. (No glasses while shooting). In that case, I turn left or right to focus on vertical subject (for lanscape format) or horizontal subject (for portrait format) and it works for me. Snap shots are hyperfocal by default with me.
 
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