Anguish

"Originally Posted by PedroHipolito 'Also be aware that if you focus and then recompose you are tilting the focus pane... Very different from a top SLR where you can choose an off center focus spot to assure focus accuracy even if your target is not in the middle of the frame.' 'Pedro (or someone else), please explain.'" There was a thread on this with a drawing. Nevertheless, here is my explanation: It is common to focus on the eyes, then reframe to make a desirable composition. The focusing rangefinder double image on the Leica rangefinder is in the center of the viewing frame. The subject's eyes are the crucial focal point. So, after focusing, the subject's eyes are centered. But for composition purposes, photographers frequently seek a subject that is not centered. Given the above, the rangefinder shooter will focus first, then compose. Your plane of focus is parallel to the plane of your sensor (or film). If you recompose by tilting or rotating the camera, which is the natural way to recompose, you can imagine the plane of focus out in front of the camera also tilting or rotating. In such a case, the plane of focus will tilt or rotate so it is either in front or behind the critical eyes. So, if we are using a shallow depth of field as we desire, the eyes will be OF after the tilt or rotated recomposition. Of course, you can recompose by keeping the camera sensor in the exact same plane as it was when the lens was focused. This is somewhat difficult and not natural. You can imagine this in the following scenario. You are in a room with parallel walls. Your Leica back is flush against one wall, focused on the parallel wall opposite. You can move the camera anywhere across the wall against which it is flush and the opposite wall will remain in focus. You can actually move the camera quite a distance and the far wall will remain in focus. But if you tilt or rotate the camera one smidgen, most of the opposite wall will go OF (assuming a shallow DOF). Indeed, now only one line will be sharp. So it takes quite a bit of experience, understanding and practice to take what is a common picture with shallow DOF on a rangefinder. It is likely many so-called focusing problems arise from shooters not understanding this concept. On a DSLR with autofocus, there are commonly several (many) points in the image area that can be selected for the point of autofocus. This is the equivalent of being able to move the rangefinder patch about in the viewfinder frame of a rangefinder camera, a feature that has not yet been invented for the rangefinder. A moveable rangefinder patch, or DSLR autofocus as described above, would allow one to compose, then focus, instead of the other way around. This is my crude understanding and I am open to any input.

When I take my M9 and M8 to the Utah desert, I pack them in Pelican cases. This is frequently for river trips, so the protection is doubly needed. Nevertheless, the dust-proof Peli eliminates sand worries while driving, staging. Of course, it makes the camera somewhat less accessible. When hiking, the simple neoprene case seems to work, or if it there is a sandstorm, a camera can be further protected in the pack.

Yes, this thread is now also about the M9 in the cold. My short message: the super conductivity of the heavy, metal body promotes the disfunction of the battery, especially ones not fully charged, in cold to very cold temperatures (teens F and lower) I ski with mine regularly in the backcountry in Wyoming and use it outdoors often. Here are some observations and strategies from over the years. I used to keep it across my chest ( in the neoprene case) but on cold days it would die, especially if I had anything but a full battery. Now I try to keep the camera warmer in such circumstances. This has come to mean keeping it inside my jacket, or pack, although you can't use it when it is in the pack. When I take it out for a shot, I have not seen condensation on the lens (Isn't this something that happens when you go from cold to warm?) If there is frost or condensation, I can wipe it off. I never begin with a battery less than full. I take a spare battery and keep it warm in a pants pocket. Upon camera failure, taking the battery out and warming it in a pocket or in your hands can briefly revive the camera. But putting the battery back into a super-cold camera body will do little good. Wind chill and moisture seem to add to the problem - makes sense since they wick heat. In below zero temperatures, I have seen a full battery drain through a very cold camera (exposed to the wind, blowing snow, cold on a tripod with no hands around it to keep it warm) very quickly - within perhaps fewer than 20 shots.

Leica Ak©ade(a)mie(y) instructor Tom Smith recommends getting to know one lens intimately, by using it and it alone for a long period. One camera, one lens, one iso, 10,000 pictures, he says. You should be able to automatically rack to 6 feet and 12 feet. Infinity is automatic, so is the close range of 28 inches or so.

At the B&W Ak©ada(e)mie(y) in Salt Lake City, Utard, Linda Leica slapped a 24 Summilux on my M9 and we went out to document Occupy Pioneer Square. I told the class the 24 was not really a portrait lens, to which guest instructor Roger Tuttle said "except for photojournalism." I was able to stand a comfortable talking distance from the drummer boy and Isis Rose for these two environmental portraits. Neither was shot wide open - both about 2.4, so I left some bokeh on the table, but did get them in focus. In the case of the extroverted Isis, when she insisted on showing off her tattoo there was a bit of a scrum among classmates and news photographers and the 24 put me in the front of the pack. Drummer Boy was a hail Mary. These might amplify some of the comments previously posted regarding distance from subject, etc. Beware the Ak©ada(e)mie(y). It will make you want to buy a $7,000 lens, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Leica Ak©ada(e)mie(y) had a day's session on this in Salt Lake City that was useful. I almost didn't go because I first thought "in-camera B&W" was a looser b/c I would get only jpegs and, as we all know, we want RAW files to start with. "In-camera B&W," as conceived by the great minds, gives you the RAW files, but the preview in the back of the camera is a jpeg B&W. (OK, you all know this so far.) The point of this is that you can take advantage of the B&W rendition by chimping to see what's black, what's white and whether your pre-visualization was accurate or whether colo(u)rs distracted you from seeing true values. Of course the purist will not chimp. But since we now have a screen on the back of the camera.... The Ak©ada(e)mie(y) included instruction on how to then best translate the RAW files to B&W in LR3. I had been arriving at my own clunky method of doing this (I am not an avid reader of the PP threads here – will do more) but the course pointed me in the correct direction. A hint - you need use only the smallest jpeg file setting on the M9 since the files are used in this method only for a preview, or for quickly sending on a phone. You don't even need to downlaod them to the computer if you don't want. If you do download all files, yes, LR3 will first render all frames in B&W, which can be unnerving, but soon enough they resolve into a color frame, followed by a B&W frame, according to the preference you select in the LR3 program(me). Keeping the jpegs during the download process also allows editing in B&W, during which time you again won't be distracted by colo(u)r masking the value.

This happened to my M8 once. I posted the observation, likely titled Hot M8, some years back. Not sure where the switch was.

The world's first national park is remarkable just from the roadside. I live next door. September is a beautiful month, with somewhat less traffic. For real wilderness, the backcountry of this ecosystem is remarkable. We judge wilderness quality by the number of times a day we take the strap off the holder of our bear pepper spray, or the number of times we advance through the forest with finger on the trigger. Here, from a 10-day fall canoe trip around Yellowstone Lake, we landed to camp at Promentory Bay to find a pair of grizzlies had strolled down the beach before our arrival. This is when the required separation between campsite, cooking area and food hang takes on meaning...

I am an M9 shooter who was out in Europe, because of my job I can't say where. Found a memo in the course of work. Know a fair amount about the Leica M9, which I carry because of professional requirements. But am not a super-technical person. Perhaps some on this forum can shed light on the jargon I don't understand. This was titled "To marketing staff, draft release <English>." Second page was missing: (Two words, represented by REDACTED, were blacked out.) "The REDACTED MC2 carries the legend of REDACTED M cameras into the neutronic age and back into history. It is the smallest full-format neutronic system camera the world has ever seen, or will ever see from the future. In a neutron: it is a contemporary, futuristic and historic tool for all who demand the highest standards in image quality and love freedom of composition and from time. The combination of an extremely high-resolution time-image sensor and neutronic retrieval system, the superior performance of M lenses, and sophisticated processing of the captured neutronic information ensures the best imaging results in all photographic situations, past, present and future. The 81-megapixel, 75 light-years-per-minute capacitor TTN time-image sensor, specifically designed and developed for this camera, enables the capture of the full 35-mm film format, then and now, without any compromises. All M lenses mounted on the MC2 offer the same angle of view they had when using film or digital material in the present or near past and without warp. This means that the high resolution and unique imaging quality of the now-neutronic MC2 is capable of fully exploiting the enormous potentials and time reaches of M lenses. Or, in other words: in the case of the MC2, it wasn't a matter of modifying the lenses to match the time-image sensor, but rather the other way around. (Not that we couldn't have done it either way, having this technology in hand.) This results in images particularly rich in details. Natural. Authentic. Then. Now. Without compromise." As I said, there appeared to be more than this, but other pages were not attached.

Dropped it from about thigh high to asphalt - rangefinder readjust.

Thanks, Per, for advice and links. Helps to know which part to grip and turn.

KH, Thanks Presumably, if the TE 135 does not unscrew easily, one shouldn't try harder. In other words, do later models come apart for use on the viso, or is this adaptability a feature that Leica eventually dropped in later model lenses?

"In order to be able to focus to infinity, all you need is the M9, Visoflex III, Universal Focus Mount OTZFO = 16464 K, and the TE 135/4 lens head." What's the difference between the TE 135/4 lens and the TE 135/4 lens head? Do you have to take the lens apart to use it with the 16464/Viso III?

Take the camera

1 vote for Choi