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Leica Camera FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)


hoppyman

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This FAQ is meant to gather helpful answers, especially for new users, to questions that arise with some regularity in new threads. The forum already has an M9 specific FAQ . Some content may overlap.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/130720-m9-faqs-frequently-asked-questions.html

 

This one is intended to include topics such as lenses, accessories and user information where they are not unique to those for the M9. It is for all Leica cameras and related products, including current or past models. It would be helpful to include the relevant subject at the top of the new post. For example:

M System, S System, R System, Compact Cameras, Thread Mount System

 

Provide us with your top tips.

 

PLEASE, do not use this for discussion or OT posts. NO photographs, unless it SPECIFICALLY makes a top-tip clearer than if you hadn't included it. Keep this thread very much "On Topic".

 

Our Mod Andy intends to be ruthless in this regard, so that the thread remains / becomes a useful first port of call for advice.

Edited by hoppyman
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M System

Question: I wear spectacles. How do I determine the best Correction Lens for the eyepiece of my M camera?

 

 

Answer: The short answer is that it is best to try different diopter corrections with your camera to see what suits you personally. An Opthamologist/Optometrist or spectacles retail outlet should be able to assist. You should be able to look through your camera with a range of temporary lenses as used to determine spectacles prescriptions.

 

M camera viewfinders have Minus 0.5 diopter correction built in. This means that the image seen appears to be two metres in front of the camera. Dividing one metre by the diopter figure gives the focus distance (not the magnification).

 

Leica Correction Lenses are available in half diopter increments in a range for nearsighted to far sighted eyes

 

The best Leica Correction Lens for the individual is subject to several factors

Your eye's accommodation, which is its ability to change focus from far to near objects. Declines with age.

Astigmatism, which is a vision defect where light focuses on two differnt points within your eye. The spherical Correction Lenses cannot correct for this.

 

Are spectacles still to be worn with the Correction lens fitted?

 

Leica Camera also offer 1.25x and 1.4x Magnifier attachments which can have Correction Lenses fitted on the rear surface. Anecdotally these appear to also include some diopter correction. It would be best to test with the Magnifier on and off the camera when trying different diopter corrections.

Edited by hoppyman
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M System

Question: I come from an autofocus camera background. How do I focus with M rangefinder cameras?

 

Answer (technique described by Jaap): All Leica rangefinder cameras show a central patch in the viewfinder for focus.

It is important to look through the viewfinder in the optical axis. Looking into the camera skewed will result in inaccurate focus.

 

Make sure that the viewfinder image, including the frame lines and the rangefinder patch is clear for your vision. You may need to use your spectacles and/or a Correction Lens.

There are three techniques that can be used to focus with the rangefinder patch.

 

1. The broken line method. Look for a vertical line in the image and turn the focus ring until the section in the patch aligns with the rest of the line outside the patch

 

2. The coincidence method. Look for a pattern in the image and bring it together to coincide. This may lead to errors with repeating patterns.

 

3. The contrast method. Once you have focus by method 1. or 2. a small adjustment will cause the rangefinder patch to "jump" into optimum contrast. At that point you have the most precise focussing adjustment.

 

In the most critical situations, you may need to to adjust your position slightly after focussing if you recompose. This is due to the camera to subject distance changing slightly.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Question: Can I use ordinary polarisers on a M camera? I can't see the effect in the finder!

 

Yes you can use them. You must know however how a polariser works, and know its orientation of polarisation. The filter works on light that is reflected from certain surfaces like water, glass or shiny paint, and is thereby polarised. Also on a clear blue sky, because that light too is polarised. Light reflected from ordinary matte subject surfaces is un-polarised (a.k.a. circularly polarised) and is not affected by the polariser.

 

Orienting and marking a polariser. You start with a plane, strongly reflecting and polarising surface. A windowpane or a framed and glazed picture work well. I'll assume a framed picture. Lay it horizontally; then stand so that the light of the sky reflects strongly from it. An angle of c. 30° from the horizontal is best. Hold the polariser in your hand and rotate it while looking through it, until the reflection is extinguished, or at a minimum. Now put a mark on the rotating rim of the filter, at 12 o'clock, i.e. at an angle that is perpendicular to the reflecting surface – vertical against horizontal. One way to make the mark permanent is with a fiber-tip pen with silver ink; put it in the knurling of the rim, where it will not rub off. Some polarisers come already marked, but you must check that the mark is in the "right" place, as outlined above.

 

Using the polariser. You can now experiment with the marked filter. Look at various reflecting surfaces, also at the sky, find the orientation that works best, and note where the mark is pointing. The rules you can follow when the filter is already mounted to your lens, are the following:

 

Reflecting surfaces. Point the mark at 90° to the surface, i.e. directly at or directly away from it. This means that with reflections on water, set the mark at 12 o'clock (or 6 o'clock, for that matter). With a reflecting window, aim it at the pane. Note that the effect is lost at very flat or very steep angles to the surface. – 12 o'clock also works well for saturating the colours of foliage, because the waxy, largely horizontal surfaces of the leaves reflect lots of skylight from above, polarising it.

 

Blue sky. Point the mark in the direction of the sun. Maximum polarisation of the "dome" of the sky is at 90° from the sun. There is little polarisation directly against or away from the sun, and thus little effect from the filter. A wide angle lens (wider than 35mm, say) will give an uneven degree of darkening.

 

Check for yourself that these rules do apply to reality, which they do if you have marked the filter mount correctly. There is no need to buy or transport lots of complicated hardware; an ordinary polariser in its case slips easily into a pocket.

 

–––––––––––––

Lars Bergquist – The old man from the Age Before Most Everything

Edited by lars_bergquist
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Question: Must I use the expensive circular polarisers?

 

Circular polarisers are not "better" than the ordinary linear kind. They are needed only with certain cameras.

 

Circular polarisers are recommended for SLR cameras that shunt light to their meters via semi-silvered patches on their main mirror. Such semi-silvering does itself polarise light. Light that emerges from a linear polariser is polarised. Two linear polarisers in tandem, which this amounts to, can absorb lots of light (cross-polarising) leading to exposure errors, usually over-exposure – the meter under-estimates the level of light.

 

A circular polariser can be seen as a common linear polariser in tandem with a "scrambler" that de-polarises the light emerging from it. Thus the semi-silvering cannot steal any light. But a Leica M is a mirrorless camera. A linear polariser therefore works just as well as a more expensive circular one. If on the other hand you have a circular polariser that fits, there is no drawback to using it. This argument does apply to the X1 too, if you can find a way to put a filter on it.

 

R and S cameras on the other hand have semi-silvered mirrors and require circular polarisers for reliable metering.

 

–––––––––––––

Lars Bergquist – The old man from the Age Before Most Everything

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  • 1 month later...

M System

Question: Viewfinder frame lines "sticky" when changing focus

Since a couple of weeks the frame lines in the viewfinder of my M8 are "sticky". If I focus to infinity, leave it there for a couple of seconds and change the focus, the frame lines stay in the top left corner for a couple of seconds, then 'un-stick' and pop loose to the position where they are supposed to be. Afterwards they do properly follow the focus distance again. Until I focus to infinity again. Is there any quick fix for this? Lubricate or clean something?

 

 

 

Answer (provided by marknorton):

If you look at my Anatomy of the M8 Viewfinder thread, you'll see how the frames move diagonally as you change focus distance and this requires one frame carrier to slide over another. It's this action which is sticking.

This can be repaired from the top of the camera without splitting the clam-shell so should be relatively inexpensive but of course Leica do like to do everything needed to bring the camera up to current standard so it will not be VERY inexpensive....In the meantime, moving the roller at the top of the lens throat in and out - gently - might improve things. Here's a link:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-...hlight=anatomy

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  • 3 years later...

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