dont45
Member
I've been reading about back-focus, and have noticed some difficulty with focus of my 75 lux when open and up close . Probably no real surprises since this guy is hard to focus. My m6 has a .85 finder and so it's better, and it has always seemed to be crisp and right on. I also had some shots with the 28 which seem unsharp but not sure if it was focus. The m8 is where I've noticed the mis-focus. So I've done some reading and today I ran a test using the Nikon D70 test target . I shot the target several times with the 28cron, 75 lux and 90 cron. On every test shot for all three lens, they show a front-focus of about 14mm. I also placed the simple focus line target on top of the test target positioned behind on the 14mm line for focus. The resulting shot of the actual target shows correct focus. In other words the point of actual focus is 14mm closer that the point of range-finder focus for all three lenses.
I plan to run these same tests on the mp and m6, but my tentative conclusion is that the m8 is simply off. I plan on contacting Leica about this, but am interested in your comments, advice and experiences first.
How bad is this? Is it likely to go beyond the close-up focus? I'm not sure at this point how to perform a valid test for longer distances. I've seen shots at stars, but have not tried that and don't know how I'd evaluate the results. Shots across the room at a Christmas tree (with the 75) looked correct as far as I could tell but hard to evaluate. For example, would the same 14mm error seen up close still be 14mm at that distance? Logic would say not since that would make no sense at infinity but I don't know about these things.
I plan to run these same tests on the mp and m6, but my tentative conclusion is that the m8 is simply off. I plan on contacting Leica about this, but am interested in your comments, advice and experiences first.
How bad is this? Is it likely to go beyond the close-up focus? I'm not sure at this point how to perform a valid test for longer distances. I've seen shots at stars, but have not tried that and don't know how I'd evaluate the results. Shots across the room at a Christmas tree (with the 75) looked correct as far as I could tell but hard to evaluate. For example, would the same 14mm error seen up close still be 14mm at that distance? Logic would say not since that would make no sense at infinity but I don't know about these things.
Bill Blackwell
Leica M Shooter
It could be the camera or the lenses.
When I got my M8, the RF was off out of the box. Check your infinity first. Focus on the moon; if the RF lines up properly, then it is most likely your lenses. If it is the RF, then send it to Leica for adjustment.
In my case, once the RF was properly adjusted (Leica had the camera four or five weeks, BTW), I sent my lenses one at a time to DAG for adjustment. They were all off at least a few inches front or back.
When I got my M8, the RF was off out of the box. Check your infinity first. Focus on the moon; if the RF lines up properly, then it is most likely your lenses. If it is the RF, then send it to Leica for adjustment.
In my case, once the RF was properly adjusted (Leica had the camera four or five weeks, BTW), I sent my lenses one at a time to DAG for adjustment. They were all off at least a few inches front or back.