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Help! - dropped M8 focus query


coldwilson

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Hi,

 

I recently purchased an M8 from a very reputable dealer and I love it. I was taking pictures in the garden recently and dropped the camera onto some stone steps where it bounced several times to my dismay. Upon inspection the camera body was virtually unmarked, the lens was fine, and only the IR filter had bent.

 

I've just started using the camera again after a couple of weeks and noticed something that I wasn't aware of before when focusing as described below.

 

When focusing I can see both the frame lines and the patch move in a diagonal direction. At the closest focal point the patch seems to be roughly central and then if I adjust the focus ring fully to infinity the patch and framelines move a little off centre in the direction of the top left. This effect is apparent on all my lenses not just the one used when it was dropped so it's not a lens issue. Focusing still seems to work and provides sharp results.

 

I don't recall this movement before and it seems wrong. I can't get to a Leica shop to check against others for a while so I hope someone can help clarify this for me please?

 

I suspect this is damaged so I'll need to get it repaired. Can anyone shed any light on the sort of cost to repair this through Leica (it's not in warranty of course)? Also, should I use the UK repair or go to Solms?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

John

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Same thing happened to me. I took the camera to Leica in the UK and they adjusted the rangefinder whilst I waited. If you call the UK service line and let them know when you will be coming they should be able to provide the same service.

 

As far as I am aware, mechanical stuff they can repair in the UK, it's only the electronics problems that have to go to Solms.

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so many posts like this, Leica should add to the troubleshooting section of the M8 manual that the patch moves diagonally to correct a focus error.

 

Also, add to the troubleshooting section that the "disappearing patch" is not a malfunction.

 

They must get a number of cameras back for these two issues.

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Thanks everyone, your feedback is much appreciated and a relief. I'll be checking the camera carefully. It's quite an old M8 I think (15,000 actuations) so could maybe use a checkup.

 

I searched everywhere on terms relating to this. Given that focus is so key to the Leica as a term I found it impossible to get anything related to the parallax phenomenon linked to the issue I described.

 

As I said I hadn't used the camera a huge amount to date. Mostly when I'm focusing the adjustment is fairly small. For small adjustments the movement is fairly slight so that may explain why I hadn't noticed it before.

 

In this case I had the camera on a tripod for the first time to check focus shift on a lens and whilst trying to focus on some writing on a sheet of paper I saw the patch moving position relative to the text on the paper which made it harder to get the focus right whilst on the tripod. Had I been doing this by hand I'd have shifted position slightly and probably not have noticed it as much.

 

I'll do some reading up on the parallax issue - I love the eccentricity of this camera.

 

Thanks

 

John

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Sorry for the misleading post...your camera is working correctly, the patch appears to travel diagonally as you move the focusing ring...the camera does a fine job correcting a small geometrical error, which is not necessary to know about to use the camera.

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Thanks everyone, your feedback is much appreciated and a relief. I'll be checking the camera carefully. It's quite an old M8 I think (15,000 actuations) so could maybe use a checkup.

 

I searched everywhere on terms relating to this. Given that focus is so key to the Leica as a term I found it impossible to get anything related to the parallax phenomenon linked to the issue I described.

 

As I said I hadn't used the camera a huge amount to date. Mostly when I'm focusing the adjustment is fairly small. For small adjustments the movement is fairly slight so that may explain why I hadn't noticed it before.

 

In this case I had the camera on a tripod for the first time to check focus shift on a lens and whilst trying to focus on some writing on a sheet of paper I saw the patch moving position relative to the text on the paper which made it harder to get the focus right whilst on the tripod. Had I been doing this by hand I'd have shifted position slightly and probably not have noticed it as much.

 

I'll do some reading up on the parallax issue - I love the eccentricity of this camera.

 

Thanks

 

John

If you do send it in for service you will get a year of full guarantee from Leica.

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...Mostly when I'm focusing the adjustment is fairly small. For small adjustments the movement is fairly slight so that may explain why I hadn't noticed it before...

 

When I got my first camera (a rangefinder) I started "practicing" focusing and found the patch apparently moving diagonally. Both the camera co. and the lens co. were unhelpful...they had never heard of a patch moving diagonally and both told me to send the equipment back. I looked it up in a book the next day, but I wasted a whole day on it. The compensation is easier to see in the r-d1 where the framelines move relative to the patch.

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Ah, got it. the movement is to ensure more focusing accuracy as a result of parallax rather than some sort of peculiarity.

 

I explained this to my wife earlier and coupled with the manual focusing and prime lenses she thinks I've lost my marbles when I've got the likes of a D300 and several compacts sitting around collecting dust. I'm only a low level amateur but this camera has taken my photography to a whole new level of quality and enthusiasm which is fantastic for capturing wonderful images of the children growing up.

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Ah, got it. the movement is to ensure more focusing accuracy as a result of parallax rather than some sort of peculiarity...

 

as Jaap pointed out I was a little glib to say "focus" error. You a looking through a little window to the side of the lens, not through the lens. With a subject far away it's about the same view, but closer up it starts to make difference.

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Of course, that makes perfect sense. On a DSLR you're looking through the lens rather than to the side of it so it would not be something they have to deal with.

 

This will be an issue for any camera focusing configured in this way. I've no interest in using a separate viewfinder but I presume that using a viewfinder would introduce a parallax issue in terms of the vertical difference between lens and window?

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yes the separate viewfinder introduces the same kind of error.

 

The compensation is recentering everything in the frame. You can see that when you're two feet away what you have centered in the viewfinder is not what you have centered in the lens. When you're two hundred feet away what you have centered in the viewfinder is about what you have centered in the lens.

 

I think it's usually called a parallax compensation, but technically called a field compensation. I'm sure there are people here who can explain this MUCH better.

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If you look through most separate viewfinders you'll notice that the framelines are slightly different from the ones on your camera; there is the frame obviously, but you'll see two small markings cutting part off. Those show the field at 1 meter. In the past, some viewfinders had an adjustable wedge in the foot with distance markings, tilting it slightly to compensate for parallax shift.

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Thanks as always for your comments Jaap.

 

Turns out I think the "parallax" compensation is also a totally insignificant focus compensation. With an uncompensated camera you would have to rotate the camera a little to account for the approx. 5.2cm difference between the viewfinder axis and lens axis. The "reframing error" involved is a couple of milimeters at 0.7m distance (from the appropriate right triangle), so not significant. Not to be confused with the "parallax" error, which is significant when shooting a face at 0.7m...the difference between the corrected and uncorrected frame is really obvious.

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