Search the Community

Hello, I am shooting Surf tomorrow and was thinking about recording some videos as well, the matter being I’ve never done it before. So I am looking for a crash course, simple, straight to the point, couldn’t find anything on YouTube… also I read the manual but can’t figure out why I can’t focus where I would want to, nor in MF or AF. I am using a Sigma 150-600, when I turned the focus ring it just magnified the image. Thank you in advance

Hi there, I brought myself finally a Leica Q last week. Its a really nice camera, but I have one issue I dont know if its a bug or a settings problem: If I half press the release button, the camera is focusing. I hold the button half pressed down until my subject is ready for the picture. If I press the button fully down (without releasing it), I assume the camera is taking the picure, but what it does is its focusing again and the taking the picture. I have set the mode switch to "S" and AF Mode to "1 point". Setting the Zoom button to "AEL/AFL" does not work either. Pressing or holding the button does nothing! With settings to Zoom the button works as expected. A reset of the camera settings did not help. Am I doing something wrong? Kind regards, Sebastian

In the last few weeks I've noticed an increase of fuzzy shots coming from my SL. I was mostly using M lenses adapted using the Leica M-L initially, shutter speeds were kept more than high enough. Focus was acheived using the peaking/zoom, which I've always had as a successful technique. So I thought initially it was me not paying attention to my camera skills etc. Then today, I was using a Panasonic 20-60mm and I changed the focus point to the single cross-hair and ensured I took at least two of every scene, and mostly this worked, with me taking the first shot then recomposing the focus point to get the second shot. There were still a few occasions where the fuzzy look was still present. I'm not sure what has changed or why the issues all of a sudden. The attached images show the fuzzy look (orange car - with M lens) and the hotrod with the Panasonic 20-60 - 100% zooms provided. I did a search and couldnt find any related issues, hence this post

I'm left handed and I think that makes my left eye dominant but not sure. Anyway when I bring the Q to my eye, instinct is to use my left eye. Given the design, I have to think that 'rangefinders' are meant for right eyed use, allowing both eyes in use? Is it possible to train myself to use right eye and keep left eye open? Any one have experience with this problem? I think I've read that gun owners are told to keep both eyes open when using a scope? Is it not worth worrying about, and just use my left eye with right closed?

Hi. For many years with large format cameras, and also with the Leica iiiG I used to use at work in the 1970's, we always had some focusing charts to use. The other day I was in a church doing a close up in fairly dim light. Every now and then the sun would shine through the window onto my subject. Peak focus on live view helped, though I had to be quick to catch the 10 seconds of sunlight! It took me back to the old focus charts we used to use. Various sizes from A4 (or Foolscap!!) down to postcard size. So I went hunting to see what is available now, and found these test sheets supposedly for Canon/Epson printers. I printed some out at postcard-ish and A4 size on my HP printer, and laminated them too. Will be trying them out this weekend. Here is where I got them if anyone one would find them useful. "Focusing" charts

In his current newsletter, TvO reviews the new Leica 75 Noctilux lens. I don't have an M, but a guy can always dream. Anyway, I'm cutting and pasting his interesting thoughts about focusing, which apply to any digital camera, really, not just a range finder, if it has a manual focus mode (and even if it has peak focusing): http://overgaard.dk/Leica-75mm-Noctilux-f-1-25-review-and-sample-photographs.html The secret sauce to focusing with a rangefinder is: be sloppy! Focus like you know how to do it, be reckless about it. The harder you try, the harder it gets. It means that you turn the focus ring (usually clockwise, as seen from behind the camera), and the moment the focus matches, take the photo. Then either move slightly back and forth with the body until you see that it matches again, then take another photo. Or, turn the focusing ring counter-clockwise back, then clockwise again until you see it matches, then take the photo. Don't turn the focusing ring back and forth to "nail the focus" or "test where the most focus is", because it's not an old safe that will open magically when you hit the right combination. Trust what you see, and when you see that the focus matches, press the shutter. The result of this will likely be that some photos will be in focus, and some won't. But you just need one that is in focus, and that's why you may take a few to make sure you get it. Don't think that it's supposed to always work with just one single photo, and that if you can't do that, you have failed the test to enter the Leica Cult. Here's how it works: You put on the EVF to get a Live View of the scene, and as you focus, the EVF 10X's the view so you can really nail the focus. Then you take the picture. Ah, this is the way to make sure you don't mess up this focusing thing, you think. What do you know? Some times that works, some times that doesn't work. "That's strange", you think. "I really have no talent for this manual focusing". Stop blaming yourself. Take some more photos instead! What happens is that you focus, and before you take the photo, the subject moves, or you do, or you accidentally turn the focusing ring a tad as you take the photo. It doesn't really matter what it is, but that's the way it is. To make sure you get one or two that are as much in focus as intended, you take a few and re-focus for each. You don't refocus, take the photo, then check the screen of the camera. No, you focus, take the photo, refocus and take another one. Never check that screen for other than the exposure. Even when it is really sharp, it doesn't look as sharp on the screen. And often when it looks really sharp on the screen, it isn't (but is just high contrast that makes the picture on the screen look really crisp). Let's repeat: Be sloppy. Focus, take a photo, re-focus and take another. Keep doing just that.

Hi everybody, I'm texting cause I need your help and wisdom. I've noticed that on my Summicron 35mm f2 (made Canada) when I turn the focus ring to the closest distance possible the ring doesn't stop exactly at 0,7m but goes beyond, while instead when turned to the farther distance possible it perfectly stops at infinte symbol. I wonder if this could affect the focusing. Is it normal and common on every Cron? Thanks to all of those who will help me )

Hello, actually on a trip in London , m’y m10 rangefinder suddenly stop coupling with my lenses. in fact, the little wheel wich get contact with the lens stays blocked on the infini. If I put it in thé right direction I can feel itsabnormaly hard to move. what happened ? CAN Ifix it by myself -? Is there a place in London where it could be fixed ? thank you for your help

Hello guys, I found that my lecia m4 RF alignment need to adjust. However, when I want to screw the biggest bolt in the mount, I found that I can't screw it. It totally fixed. I google a lot of article, but I don't find anyone else has same problem like me. AS a result I come here to ask you guys; is there anyone had same problem like me?8

Hello, I want to share with you my last experience with the SL. It was the first studio session on location I had, mixing strobes and ambient light, since I purchased the SL. During this session I have had a really hard times trying to focus on some faces during this group & portrait session yesterday! I was in a white walls area and the ambient light was rather normal (sunny day). I was shooting with a moderate natural and clear back-light coming from 2 windows. I used 2 strobes on the persons. Most of the time, I was more or less able to focus easily, but on one face it was almost impossible, wherever I set the focus point on the sensor, to focus! I had to add a side continuous light to be able to focus. And even so it was not obvious to achieve it right all the time.😳 To be honest, I am a little disappointed by the "lack of power" of the AF response. Even my previous DSLR (Nikon D800 & Pentax K1....) were better in low or contrasted lights than the SL. 🤔 On a more positive side the image quality (especially skin tons) is far better than everything I had in hands before. 🤩 Has anyone gone through such difficulties and is there a better camera setting to insure better results? Many thanks in advance for your educated advice. 😁

I had my camera and all lenses calibrated for back focus issue by Leica NJ 2 months ago. I thought everything was good until now I just realized the patch at infinity isn't completely aligned on my 35mm Summilux. Thanks to a newly acquired 1.4x diopter. I see double lines with tiny space in between when I point at construction grids at infinity. My 90mm APO doesn't have that. It is sort of minute, am I being too picky?

I have M8 with voigtlander 28mm f1.9 LTM with focusing problem ( back focus ). When I place an object ( eg 2 meters from camera), the lens mark distance is correctly in 2 m after I focus. But the picture result is back focus. Does anyone know what the problem is ? Thank you in advance

There are certain Leica Summilux 35 1.4 non ASPH lenses that are incompatible with the M8 or M9. I have one that is made in Canada. I looked everywhere to find clues on how to fix the issue. I found little pieces of information and I wanted to do everyone else a favor by taking a video of how I resolved the issue. First, to test if you have a problem - Set the focus to 3 feet (not to infinity). Mount the lens into your M8 or M9. Move the focus ring toward infinity GENTLY. If you feel resistance before infinity - stop. You have the issue. Now, to unmount, backup your focus ring to 3 feet again and then dismount. If you have the issue, do not try to mount the lens while focus is set to infinity. Bad. The problem - There is a shroud that sticks out (a black piece of aluminum highlighted in my video) at the back of the lens. This shroud increases in height as you move to infinity. The M8 and M9 body is preventing that shroud to further stick out while moving to infinity. I have highlighted in the video exactly which part of the shroud is hitting. I also show how I've done the job myself of shaving 1mm off the shroud to allow the focus to get to infinity without obstruction. There are illustrations that say measure 7mm from the bottom of the ring to measure exactly how much to shave, but my video shows what I've done and it works for me. I'm now a happy camper. Happy enough to share what I did. PS: I did not show it but I did tape the lens glass to protect it while I was grinding the shroud with my dremel tool. Here is the video for future adventurers: https://vimeo.com/275145377 Ronnie

I am curious to learn if anyone else is having problems with the Leica SL when shooting moving subjects. When shooting a moving subject, like a dog coming towards the camera, the Focus Point (green rectangle in viewfinder) jumps around and does not stick to the subject - it is almost like the Focus Mode is set to “Face Detection” (which it is not). If I continue to hold the shutter release half way down, & slightly recompose the image, the Focus Point tries to stay on the spot that it originally focused upon. Is there a way to set up the Auto Focus so that the Focus Frame/Point stays on the selected moving subject, rather than it jumping around the frame sporadically? Here are the camera settings I started with, though I have experimented with changing all of them. The problem is not quite as bad using the Single Focus Mode rather than the Continuous Mode. Focus Mode: Auto Focus Continuous (or Single Focus) Drive Mode: Continuous Medium Auto Focus Field Size: “Field” (or single point or zone) Auto Focus Mode: Dynamic (Tracking) Thanks, Mark Weidman

Hello all!I've just purchased my first Leica (M3 DS) having only ever been a digital user. I also purchased the following mighty lens: Summicron-M 50mm F/2 Type V Chrome A weighty beast to be sure! Please forgive me if this is a really obvious question about the rangefinder focus. I'm guessing the pinpoint digital sharpness factor becomes far less important with film. It's hard for me to explain but I'm wanting to know that if the images are lined up (the ghost and the real) inside the rangefinder does everything within the vicinity come into focus too? I know this has to also do with depth of field and f-stop as indicated on the first ring of the lens (the one nearest the body). If I focus an object or person within the rangefinder then adjust the camera position so said object is in the left or right of the frame, does it remain in focus? Any tips advice at all will be fantastic! Cheers, Ben

Hi, my 50mm Summicron (Latest non-APO) was recently repaired. Problem is, I just found out that the Range Finder patch does not aline when aiming at objects at infinity. However, the image is in focus. I use an M240 and indeed the image is in focus. Is this normal? considering that the lens was recently adjusted by leica based on the repair sheet.

Hey! The viewfinder of my M8 doesn't show the focusing from 0.7 to 0.5 meters with Nokton 35mm f/1.2 II . It just gets stuck at 0.7 meters. Is that a known issue?

Hi all, does anyone have an explanation, or better yet, a solution, for this: I a seeing some strange focus behavior with the Q in combination with a flash unit (Nikon SB-800). In short, with the flash switched on and using auto focus, the focus will not lock when keeping the shutter release half way pressed. To be more precise: Switch on the flash Auto focus on a subject and keep shutter release half pressed Change composition while keeping the shutter release halfway pressed Press shutter release all the way Unexpected: The Q now refocuses before taking the shot ! Leave the flash on the Q but switch it off Repeat step 2 through 4 Now it works as expected; no refocussing. Focus is still on the target set in step 2. The flash is in Manual. So is the Q exposure. Q is in AFs setting. Flash settings: "Flash mode: On", "Flash exp. comp: 0", "Flash sync: Start of exp", though I have tried changing these and some settings on the flash, but to no avail... Anyone?

Hello folks! New to the forums. I have a m6 that I'm been using with a 2.5 50mm cron. I'm getting superb images overall, however I feel like there are some that are not coming back sharp or in focus. Especially ones focused at infinity. I'm wondering if it's an issue with my m6 or cron. A few images attached as example. Thoughts?

I love my D2, but unfortunately I found a problem in Digilux 2 manual focus @ infinity. Basically manual focus @ infinity will not focus on infinity at all. Here is my test: [1] Put camera on tripod, set aperture @ F2, set zoom @ 28 mm, and set focus distance at infinity. I took a picture, and I found both foreground and background are blur, and I don't even know where is the focus. [2] Set focus @ AF, point to infinity, and took second picture when AF indicate light is green. this picture is very sharp, both background and foreground, which is expected. It looks like this problem only occur at bigger aperture (F2, F2.8, F4), when I use F5.6 and F8, manual focus @ infinity seems work fine, I got sharp image. I think this issue will make manual "zone focus" difficult. I am not sure if this happened to me, or someone else also experienced the same issue? thanks a lot!!

Hello there, When Touch-AF focusing is selected the shutter release button continues to focus when pressed. Is there any way to avoid the shutter release to focus when pressed ? Thanks for any help.

Both my M240 and M246 have gotten a lot of use and traveled a lot. I ran a simple test on my 50mm f1.4 ASPH, 75mm f2 APO and 90mm f2 APO. I checked both cameras using my Lens Allign tool (obviously in manual focus mode) at a distance of 3 meters. All images show the optimum focus wide open anywhere from 5 to 10 cm behind the point I focused on. Most of my images are taken at or near infinity focus and typically at f4-f8 so the back focus is rarely noticable. Nonetheless I am a bit of perfectionist. Other forum discussions indicate the obvious that there is some level of unavoidable offset between the point of optimum focus on and image and visibly perfect allignment of the rangefinder patch. In other experience is 5-10cm backfocus at 3 m significanly beyound what others find the system will achieve?

Hi community, I am quite new to the Leica Q and I expect the following to be a beginner's question. But, it is worrying me or at least I want to ensure that the phenomenon is not the cause of a technical issue. I am using the Leica Q in program automatic (aperture and time), multi-field metering and center-weighted metering. Auto focus is set to "single" mode, not continuous! (AF-S) My expectation was that whenever I press the shutter halfway through, the green rectangles indicate what is going to be in focus. Pressing it completely through should take the shot immediately. This works in 95% of the cases but sometimes it seems that the lens has to refocus when pressing the shutter completely through which causes a delay of 1-2 seconds! This is quite confusing as the moment was gone in those cases. Is this a technical issue or a normal behavior? I am not quite sure whether this happened with my SLR as well when I used in in auto mode! Thanks a lot for the help in advance! Cheers, Julian

Hi, habe eine wahrscheinliche Anfaengerfrage zur Leica Q und dessen Autofokus. Szenario: Programmautomatik (Blende und Zeit) Mehrfeldmessung Mittenbetont Normalerweise funktioniert der Autofokus problemlos. Ich druecke den Ausloeser halb durch, die gruenen Quadrate zeigen die Fokuspunkte an. Durchdruecken macht direkt ohne Verzoegerung das foto. Ab und zu kommt es jedoch vor, dass die Kamera nachfokussiert (scheint so) und es somit zu einer verzoegerung von 1-2 Sekunden kommt. Nahm an, dass sobald der Ausloeser halb durchgedrueckt wurde, das Bild bei kompletten durchdruecken so gemacht wird, ohne Verzoegerung! Ist das ein normales Verhalten? Meine bei meiner Spiegelreflex war das damals nicht. Moechte nur sicherstellen dass das kein technischer Fehler ist. Danke im Voraus. Beste Gruesse Julian