How to focus on small subject from M8?

[siulonbow]

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Hi,

 

I went over to my friend's house yesterday to test the M8 compare to his 7D. We were trying to take pictures of the wine stopper on the bottle. I find the picture that I took was blurry on the print of the stopper; however, his AF was able to focus on the print very well. With most of the leica lens closest distance to 0.7mm, how do Leica M owner take pictures of a very detail subject with the view finder being so small? Can you please give me some hint on how to take better picture on subject that is small and hard to see from the viewfinder? Thanks

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[luigi bertolotti]

Depends upon how much small the subject is : a good help can come from the VF enlargements lenses that can be screwed onto the VF ocular: they exist in several enlargements and from different sources (Leica makes a 1,25x and a 1,4x, I have a HK supplies 1,35x.. they make also a 1,15x, I seem... both of course are a lot cheaper than Leicas). The bigger the enlargement, the more the VF field of view is restricted... with my 1,35x, on M8, I can barely see the 35 frame... it works well with 50mm and over : indeed they are mainly targeted to long focals users, but are also very apt for situations like the one you quoted: of course, nothing changes about minimum focusing distance, which is 70 cm for most of lenses 50mm and under.

[siulonbow]

Do you know where I can find the VF enlargement lens? I might be interested in the 1.35 lens Thanks

[luigi bertolotti]

Uhm.. seems that the "compatibles" aren't easy to find, these days... my 1,35x is branded "Megaperls" and I bought it 2 years ago through an e-seller named HK Supplies (Hong Kong) ... both the names seem disappeared now... I found only these two references :

 

http://www.unicircuits.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=109 (this seems to be like my one)

 

http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=17079&cat=267&page=1 (this is a 1,25x)

 

And I remember that there was some kind of restricted delivery to USA for patent questions... of course, the two Leica originals (1,25x and 1,4x, product codes 12004 and 12006) are normally on Leica pricelist... costly, but surely very good and with a fine tiny pouche and chain... I seem that the "oldest" of the two (the 1,25x) is starting to appear also for private sale on ebay.

 

 

[Johnny_Johnson]

Uhm.. seems that the "compatibles" aren't easy to find, these days... my 1,35x is branded "Megaperls" and I bought it 2 years ago through an e-seller named HK Supplies (Hong Kong)

 

Megapearls is now known as Japan Exposures. Here's the link to the 1.35X magnifier.

 

Later,

Johnny

[Fotomiguel]

The best way to focus a small object with a M8 is to set the lens in the closest distance (0.7 in my 75mm cron) and you focus moving your body closer to the object until you match the focus and then you shoot quickly. I use the 75 cron which is the lens you can get closer without accesories. You can use a tripod and take it easy as well.

Here you may see some examples of almost macro shots with the M8 and the 75 cron without tripod.

Zenfolio | Slideshow | Miguel Massanet Amer

 

Here you can see a crop 100% of one of the pictures.

[ATTACH]186498[/ATTACH]

 

Regards

Miguel

[spydrxx]

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Or you can use a Visoflex on the M8 with the appropriate lenshead and focus mechanism for very small items.

[Sailronin]

I kept my Nikon D700 system specifically for Macro and long Tele subjects. The biggest limitation of the rangefinder design (not limited to Leica) is difficulty with those two areas (IMHO).

Leica came up the Visoflex (sp?) to turn an M camera into a clumsy SLR to allow macro and tele work. However you're probably better off to buy a DSLR and macro lens if that is an area of special interest to you.

[earleygallery]

Indeed, if you wish to specialise in photos of wine bottle stoppers an M8 probably isn't the best camera for the job.

[Rick]

siulonbow: I believe, I have some experience in this area. In my lifetime I have actually spent a fair amount of time photographing wine corks and wine bottles, and for that matter liqueur bottles of all sorts. I believe I have the answer to this one. When it comes to photographing wine corks It has been my experience that the focusing scheme that Canon employs is not affected at all by the sloppy problem that seems to plagues the Leica focusing system... and that would be the wine.