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OK - moment of madness and ignoring all of the warnings about not being able to focus, I caved in and bought a vintage (1960) ELMAR 135mm f/4 for my MM at a ridiculous bargain basement price. I confess that focusing has been a ... challenge. Even with a 1.35x magnifier on the viewfinder the paper-thin DoF at anything much under 5m (17ft) is a problem. Anyway, I have a large number of out-of-focus shots as a result. But a shot of some workmen in a nearby street (where the point of focus matches my intentions) does not look too bad. I've included a 100% crop of the central area. Does it seem a little soft or have I been staring at my screen for too long? Thoughts appreciated. Has anyone else had any experience of this lens and any thoughts on how I might get some consistently good reasonable results? Thanks, Mike Settings were: 1/125s, f/8, ISO 1600 (handheld)

((First of all, let me say that I have not bought my m9 yet. The funds are there, and i am planning to go ahead with the purchase in a couple of weeks time..)) I have been a boy of the digital era, as I was born in it (i'm in my early twenties). Photography has always been my passion. I started off with a nikon dslr (d200 and continued to a d700), and i have been building my lens collection for about five years now. A couple of years back I was introduced to an m8, only shortly (in a shop for 5 mins), and fell in love with it.. The "leica bug" has been in me ever since. I finally made the decision to switch over to rangefinders but although i did some research, i still have some questions.. Now after this introduction i'll cut directly to the chase. My question is focus-related: The "image overlay" window in the viewfinder is the small square in the middle, where you can judge if you are in focus or not. Doesn't that mean that you can only focus accurately on your subject, if it's in the middle of the frame? i.e. How can you focus on an object that is for example in the lower left part of the frame, by the time that there is no image overlay for that area of the viewfinder? I am sincerely sorry if i am wasting your time with a question that could be trivial to most of you, but i tried to get my head around it and could not find an answer from common sense. Best, Panos

Hallo everybody, my name is Claudio Virili and I have just received a Leica M1; I am new in the Leica world, so I need a little help from you about how this wonderful camera works. My main concern is on how to focus objects, since of course M1 is not a reflex camera, but it seems to me that it doesn't have a rangefinder too, is it true? If so, how can focus objects at different distances? Thank you for your help. Claudio Virili

Hi, I own 3 lenses: 35mm lux asph, 50mm lux non-asph and 75mm lux. Only the 35mm is tabbed and I like the tab a lot, just a lot easier to know instantly approximately where the lens is focused to as soon as you pick the camera up, and helps me to focus faster. What are the options or people experience in tabbing the lenses themselves? I googled a bit there seems to be a few options. But it wasn't a lot of information. Wonder why this isn't more common, tabs are nice aren't they? Byron

Hello all - I have not been able to sit still for the five days since I received my new 21mm summilux. It is an incredible lens. I have, till now mostly used the 35mm summilux, which comes with a finger grip attached to the focus ring. This grip is very useful, as I am sure many 35mm summi users know, because it helps locate the focus setting on the lens without looking down or taking my eyes off the subject - by the time I bring the camera up to my eyes, my finger has done most of the 'thinking' and I'm almost at the focus point. It would be great if there was some way of attaching a similar finger grip to the 21mm summilux. Does anyone know of a way of modifying the lens, or any service out there that does this? I called Leica USA and did not have any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

I have Inconsistent focusing with a 90 mm Elmarit I just bought. Can it be adjusted to match my camera? If so, will that throw my other lenses off?

I been thinking about getting an M8 and keep saving money for a lens, or to get an X1 now that prices of used ones has become more reasonable... But my main question is regarding the optical finder... Basically therr is no way to know what the camera is focusing, so considering it is a digital machine is there a possibility Leica (Panasonic) could make an electronic finder for it?? Just wondering. Regards, Ricardo

Hi All, Perhaps a daft question, (I only ever used Leica with 0.7m min focusing distance), but I need some information/help on focusing above lens which has minimum focusing distance of 0.8m. (about to get it, so want to ensure all is OK). I understand that lenses below 0.7m are a pain unless you use live view, (which I never do), but what about 0.8m? Will my RF focusing patch register 0.8m as its limit on my M240? i.e. when close to the subject and my RF patch confirms focus, will that be the given min focusing distance of 0.8m? P.S. Just got back to my beloved digital Leica after a few years stint with another system and while waiting to be able to afford to rebuild the system (after just purchasing mint black M240), I need Leica glass and this is my best option as I have a great deal on this lens. Many Thanks in advance, Bobby

Does anyone have experience using a visoflex 020 to calibrate a 50mm f1.1 7Artisans lens for the Leica M10 RF? Using the supplied focussing chart from 7Artisans as recommended seems more involved. Currently, I can see a discrepancy between the focussing using the RF compared to the visoflex 020 - no calibration has been undertaken to-date. Appreciate any advice or experiences e.g. do you recommend using the 7artisans chart as the method of choice ?

Hi, I miss the Leica experience, so I'm about to click Purchase on a Q-P.. Because of my crappy eyesight, I will want to Lock In the Single Focus Point. I have read that this is Not Possible and that at times the Single Focus point will drift away from the Central position.. Is this true? If So, is there any way I can Lock the Single Focus Point in the Center Position? How about Multi Point Focus, does that stay Central & Permanent? - I appreciate these are basic questions, but very important bearing in mind my poor eyesight.. Tx in advance... L

Hi. My name is Tom and I'm hoping to get a little help. I'm brand new to the Leica world, so I'm trying to determine the appropriate expectations. A few days ago I purchased a used M10 from B&H. I love it. But I'm having a problem with the focusing. I'll explain. For a year I have owned a few Leica lenses that I have used on a Sony body. Now that I have an M10, I'm struggling with focus. I use a 50mm Summicron F2 version 4, and I was consistently getting what I considered to be soft images on the M10. This lens had performed well on the Sony, and all reviews glow about its sharpness. But I was not seeing it. So I went online and I found some pictures of a dollar bill someone had taken with the same lens. My results were decidedly inferior. But I noted some details of my experiment and this is what I found. If I focused with the range finder focusing system I got poor results. If I focused with the live view and focus peeking, I got decent results. If I focused with precisely measured distances relying on the focus scale, I got good results. Significantly, when I checked range finder focus when it was focused with the distance scale, the range finder system indicated it was well out of focus even though that was not the case. My teenage daughter and her good eyes confirmed my observations. I suspected that perhaps the camera's calibration was off. I put on my Leica 90mm f2.8 Tele-Elmarit and I observed the same results. So that seems to confirm that it's the calibration. But here is where it gets odd. I put on my 35mm Voigtlander Ultron and everything works perfectly. The rangefinder focus system and the scale distance results are the same. I can take crystal clear pictures with this lens with the range finder system and it's a joy. Anyone have any ideas what is amiss? I am in the return grace period for the camera, and I might opt to send it back if I cannot solve this. It's a lovely camera and I hope to keep it. ​Much appreciated. - Tom

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, I recently acquired two Leica M cameras from an auction. One is a M3, the other is a M2. They both are cosmetically in pretty nice condition, but the viewfinder on each seems to have an issue. The M3 seems like it may have some separation going on and the focusing patch seems pretty dim. The frame lines for the 90mm seems permanently visible as well. The M2 has what looks like dark spot inside the viewfinder—I'm not sure that this could be. When you looks through the viewfinder it still seems bright and the patch is clearly visible. I'm wondering if anyone can help identify the issue and also let me know if you think it can be fixed. Other than the viewfinders, the cameras seems in really great shape. Hopefully a CLA can clear things up, or a recement. Thanks! Ross

Hi, I've been spending days reading about these wonderful Leica M Series lenses. Some questions: 1. Are the Summilux, Summicron and Elmarit-M lenses yielding very similar sharpness and picture quality (given that you don't get the wide open F stops with the very expensive ones)? 2. Amongst the experienced Leica users are the Summicron lenses seen as being significantly improvements over the Elmarit series lenses (other than faster)? 3. Are the Elmarit series lenses seen as being a definite step up from ANY of the Zeiss ZM series or Voightlander lenses? 4. If # 3 is yes, then are there any exceptions where the Zeiss ZM or Voightlander are very very close in image quality (I already read that the Leica M Series are significantly higher build quality). 5. If I follow the wisdom of investing in lenses (the M9 will in fact will be replaced or upgraded, but the Leica lenses will be very current no matter what for decades), then are there any digital larger sensor size bodies available that can accept the M Series Leica lenses that cost significantly less than the M9 (until someday when I can afford to buy it used). 6. I have to wear reading glasses. Please direct me to any sites (forums) that talk about the use of rangefinder cameras for those who have to wear reading glasses (diopter 2.0) at this point. (Just use slightly greater magnification?? like a diopter 2.5 for more precise rangefinder focusing?) 7. I also want to find out about focusing rangefinder cameras in very low light. Any forums or sites you can direct me to ? In essence, I'm looking for the smallest body with smallest lenses that are wonderful in build and image quality potential so I actually wind up using them, having them on me, having them in my backpack (or with me on daily walks with the dogs) without weighing two tons and taking up all the room (and so I can have that special feeling that money investment has gone toward something very special--- in the end for me artistic photography has to have that feeling tone, so it might as well start with me and my equipment). Thank you for any directions to relevant forums, sites etc, and thanks for any wisdom, insights, encouragement, lessons learned along the way, pitfalls to avoid while purchasing Leica stuff for the first time. Spike

I wear glasses (and need them on all the time) and find manual focus frustrating. I am slow and never confident that I have my shots perfectly focused. Are there any aids to focusing for the M8, such as different focusing screens or magnifiers to highlight the split image? I use my M8 for travel and street photography.

I suspect that the vertical alignment of my M8's rangefinder is just slightly off. E.g. I can read the text in a newspaper through the viewfinder, but it always seems less crisp in the focusing patch. Anyhow, I'm wondering how difficult it is to adjust the vertical alignment and get it dead on. I understand that one needs a special tool to use once she removes the red dot on the front of the camera. That's fine, as I can get one of the adjustment tools. However, what worries me is whether I'll be able to get the alignment right, as I'll just be using my eyes (with glasses) and no type of objective measurement. A question for people who have performed this adjustment themselves: How long did you have to adjust it? Do you feel like you got it dead-on perfectly aligned? Did you find it difficult? Thanks!