Focus problem - lens or camera?

[SGreenberg]

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I'm shooting an M9 with 28mm Skopar, 35mm Summarit and 50mm Summicron lenses. The shorter two lenses focus perfectly. When the 50mm lens is at infinity there's not perfect overlap on the focus patch. I've tried this at very long distances, still the same problem. Pictures themselves are in perfect focus, thankfully. Is this a lens repair or could it still be the camera?

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

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[luigi bertolotti]

Welcome to the forum !!!

There are a pair of infos not so clear in your question :

1) how is the RF patch when you set the other two to infinity ?

2) how the Summicron behaves at shorter distances ?

 

If 1) is "ok", I'd say that is the Summicron to need adjustement and moreover if ( 2) ) it doesn't focus correctly at 1-3 meters or so.

 

If the RF patch does not align at infinity with all the lenses, is surely the camera that needs adjustement... Skopar and Summarit are wideangles with no great apertures, and Depth of field can give a rather good focusing even at short distances, as you observe.

[SGreenberg]

Hi - Thanks for your reply. The patch is as it should be for the wider lenses (complete overlap). I will need to test the shorter distances on the 50mm more carefully, and will post what I find. So far it sounds like a lens adjustment.

[earleygallery]

When you say infinity what do you mean? What are you looking at through the viewfinder?

[SGreenberg]

By infinity I mean when the focus ring is turned all the way in that direction, so objects very far way should be in perfect focus.

[Fgcm]

The problem of image overlapping at infinite is more common than one could imagine.

 

Ok, you should make a test.

Set aperture wide open

Set your lens to focus at infinity and take a pic of a very distant object.

Than rotate a little backward the focus ring. One half of a millimeter and take another pic

Repeat the test rotating another half of a millimeter

 

Write down which focus set perfectly overlap the image at infinite

 

Repeat the experiment with something closer, about a couple of meters.

Now set a perfect focus in the finder, than a very little front and a very little back focused

 

Now look at your pictures.

 

Which is perfectly focused?

 

If the focus is quite off, ok, you need to send your lens to Leica for fixing it.

 

If you have to pixel peep for half an hour to see a little difference, do not bother your lenses and go out shooting

 

Ciao

Franco

[FlashGordonPhotography]

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It's most likely the lens. But as the two shorter lenses will have more tolerance due to DOF it's not 100%.

 

When I first got my camera I had one lens that looked like coincidence was perfect and all others were off. It turned out that the patch was a tiny tiny bit off on the first lens as well but it was so close as to be difficult to tell, even with my near perfect eyesight. After body calibration they were all perfect.

 

Personally I'd send the body and two Leica lenses in if you have any warranty left.

 

Gordon