New to RF: Focusing fast lenses

[BillBingham2]

Years ago, my father attended the training session given by Leica. It was over several days at work and they said that for wide angle lenses, the rangefinder was much more accurate at focusing lenses than SLRs were (they sold both at this point in time).

On my F2, I have a P screen, spilt image on a 45 degree angle with a microprism around it. It works great. I do not think that the size of the split image is larger than the RF spot on my M6.

If this is a real problem, look into a Bessa T. It only has a rangefinder you look through and you add a viewfinder to the top. I used one for years and it is a GREAT camera.

B2 (;->

 

[peter_n]

I'm not being provocative, just genuinely curious..... why not rock it?

I'm someone who still has problems with accurate focus of very wide apertures at close distance, and would like to improve this. I do generally rock the focus.

Once it snaps into focus you don't need to move the focus ring again, as principe azul rather efficiently said 🙂 it is "mind over matter". You have the focus so press the shutter release button and you will get the shot. Because you are using an RF camera you will know that you have got the shot because you've seen it through the VF. Instant gratification. 😀

If you're using an SLR and you rock back and forth on the focus you will hope you got the shot, and maybe you have. But you don't know for sure until you get the film back because the mirror got in the way. If you missed it - delayed aggravation. 🙁 And you cannot take another shot at the same scene...

 

[furcafe]

As peter_n wrote, because it's a waste of time. You can use the RF patch as a binary indicator, meaning something's either in focus or not.

If your subject is moving & only a small adjustment is needed, I find it easier to simply move myself forwards or backwards a bit to keep things in focus, as opposed to constantly tweaking the focus ring (which can be a PITA w/lenses that have a long focus throw, like the Noctilux or 75 Summilux).

I'm not being provocative, just genuinely curious..... why not rock it?

 

[jbf]

With my Jupiter-8 f/2... It being a Zeiss Sonnar copy, the slightest error focusing at f/2 is extremely noticeable.

Heh.

However with my Jupiter-12 (a Zeiss Biogon copy) f/2.8 is extremely sharp and quite easy to get your images how you want.

Guess it's the sonnars design.