disconnekt Posted March 3, 2009 Share #1 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm the proud owner of a Leica CL w/ 40mm Summicron-C lens for the past year. I've taken some marvelous photos with this camera, which is my first film Leica (I've owned the Digilux 2 and the D-Lux 2). However, I'm having a serious problem getting used to the focus, which I find extremely difficult especially with a moving subject (my three year old). It's nearly impossible to do shots of her! I began photography with a Nikon FM2 SLR and never had any problem with the TTL focus, but the rangefinder focus is both unintuitive for me, and I find it very hard to see the two images I'm supposed to line up. Â After a year I should have gotten used to it but I haven't. Could it be because the CL is particularly hard to focus, or will I have the same problem with any rangefinder? What I really want is a compact film camera with interchangeable lenses so I don't want to go back to an SLR. Thanks in advance for your advice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 Hi disconnekt, Take a look here hard time focusing with Leica CL, advice?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted March 3, 2009 Share #2 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Basically the CL has a simpler and less accurate version of the Leica rangefinder. The measuring base is smaller and the connection to the lens different. This makes it less accurate and a bit more fiddly to focus. However, with the dedicated lenses it should be easy to focus. Are you sure that you "see" the rangefinding window completely sharply? That is a prerequisite for accurate focussing of any rangefinder. You should try a M series camera too. I'm sure any used camera dealer will happily lend you one of his stock to try out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconnekt Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share #3 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for your post. I'm quite sure I'm seeing the focusing window sharply, but the thing is that the "double" image I'm supposed to line up is very faint and in certain conditions it takes me a while to be able to locate it and align it correctly. I'll have to try to stop by a shop to try a Leica M, although I can never afford one. Â Is there such thing as a rangefinder with autofocus? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andit Posted March 3, 2009 Share #4 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Hi there, Â Sorry to hear about your troubles with the focusing on your CL. Two things. You mention that you sometimes have trouble locating the rangefinder patch. I'm not trying to insult you here and please don't take this the wrong way. Take your camera, stand in front of a full length mirror. Hold the camera as you normally hold it and focus. Now check in the mirror if by any chance your fingers are blocking the little rangefinder window. This might sound ridiculous - but I have found my finger blocking this little window a number of times and then the rangefinder patch really does disappear. This is a common mistake that everyone makes that has just started out with a rangefinder. Â The other thing that may be happening here is that the rangefinder alignment has gone out. The only thing to do then is to send the camera into Leica and have them do a CLA service on it. Â Chances are 10 to 1 though that it is one of your fingers that is blocking a window. I still have this happen to me sometimes - 2 years down the line. Â Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andit Posted March 3, 2009 Share #5 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Is there such thing as a rangefinder with autofocus? Â Yes there is. The Contax G Series (G1 and G2) had autofocus. For some or other reason they were never really accepted by the main stream though. Used camera's and lenses are available quite freely and they are also fairly cheap. Â Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconnekt Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share #6 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for your suggestion and don't worry, I don't take offense :-) But my finger does not block the rangefinder window. What I find so difficult is the tiny size of the little rangefinder focus area in the center of the frame, combined with the fact that the "double" image to line up is very faint. Impossible to focus on a moving subject, for sure, but even difficult on stationary things! I would prefer to have the double image appear over the whole frame, not just in a tiny area in the center. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconnekt Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share #7 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Andres, you were writing at the same time I was so I didn't see your post until after I wrote mine. I will look into the Conax G series. This may be a scandalous question to ask on a Leica forum, but how do the Contax G series lenses compare to Leica M lenses? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 3, 2009 Share #8  Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for your post. I'm quite sure I'm seeing the focusing window sharply, but the thing is that the "double" image I'm supposed to line up is very faint and in certain conditions it takes me a while to be able to locate it and align it correctly. I'll have to try to stop by a shop to try a Leica M, although I can never afford one. Is there such thing as a rangefinder with autofocus?  There is a real possibility that the RF needs a clean. There are plenty of independent repairmen that will do that - considerably cheaper than Leica. You haven't filled out your profile, so as I don't know your country I cannot give pointers. And there is nothing wrong with Contax lenses... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc1030 Posted March 3, 2009 Share #9 Â Posted March 3, 2009 The G1 wont be fast enough to shoot children, the af takes nearly as long as focusing with the cl. just prefocus to 10 feet, close the f-stop to 8 or 11, use fast film and you'll get nice pictures of your kids. for my part, i'm faster with the m8 than with any autofocus - the time to convice the AF to focus on the right object is too long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andit Posted March 3, 2009 Share #10 Â Posted March 3, 2009 This may be a scandalous question to ask on a Leica forum, but how do the Contax G series lenses compare to Leica M lenses? Â The Contax G Series made use of Carl Zeiss T* optics. These are some of the finest lenses ever made - probably on par with Leica. If you have a look at Hasselblad Medium Format camera's, you will see that they also make use of Carl Zeiss T* lenses. There should be no problem with image quality. Â Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconnekt Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share #11 Â Posted March 3, 2009 The G1 wont be fast enough to shoot children, the af takes nearly as long as focusing with the cl. just prefocus to 10 feet, close the f-stop to 8 or 11, use fast film and you'll get nice pictures of your kids. for my part, i'm faster with the m8 than with any autofocus - the time to convice the AF to focus on the right object is too long. Â What about the G2, does this have faster focus? Â Regarding the quality of Zeiss glass, I've heard marvelous things about it, but what about the bokeh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 3, 2009 Share #12 Â Posted March 3, 2009 Don't expect any better AF than your Digilux2. The design is over a decade old. [url=http://photo.net/equipment/contax/g2][/url] Here you will find an informative review: http://photo.net/equipment/contax/g2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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