New M User -- R Lens Difficulties

[woorob]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi,

 

After the obligatory several month wait (eight months in my case), I received my silver M yesterday from Ken Hansen. I fully charged the camera battery overnight, and went out to take some initial pictures midday today.

 

Everything works just fine with my M lenses; however, I have encountered some difficulties when using my R lenses.

 

My setup for the initial test shots is to mount the M on a tripod while I frame and focus through the EVF. I'm using a Novoflex LEM/LER adapter until the Leica R-to-M version arrives (which I prefer because it will have a tripod mount).

 

Here are my issues/frustrations:

 

1. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to use the "focus peaking" feature with my R lenses. Focus peaking works just fine with my M lenses, so I'm rather frustrated by my inability to engage this feature with my R lenses. By the way (and as others have previously noted), the focus button on the front of the camera is poorly placed, at least for me, particularly when using R lenses. Given the width of its barrel, my 80 mm/1.4-R blocks over a third of the focus button, making it even less convenient to use.

 

I've tried to set the focus aid in Menu to Manual, which did not seem to make any difference. I'm sure there must be a way to use the focus peaking feature with an R lens, I just can't seem to figure it out.

 

2. Pictures taken with the R lenses in some situations are significantly overexposed, by, perhaps, one or two EV. While viewing the scene through the EVF, the exposure looks correct, but when I depress the shutter button a small white circle appears in the upper right portion of the EVF viewfinder and the scene then appears overexposed, which is how the picture itself appears once taken. Again, I must be doing something wrong, but have no idea what mistake I am making. There are virtually no instructions provided in the M240 manual or Leica's EVF instructions as to how one should use the EVF, so I'm clueless on this one as well.

 

I'm hoping someone has some insights that can help me resolve these issues. The ability to use R lenses was an important factor in my decision to buy the M.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Bob Woods

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[gravastar]

(1) When you turn the focus collar on a rangefinder coupled lens the movement of the rangefinder cam is detected by the camera and the display is automatically switched to x5 magnification with focus peaking enabled. After displaying for approximately 4 seconds the display reverts back to unmagnified with no focus peaking. To enable magnified/focus peaking again you either have to refocus the lens or press the button on the front of the camera.

 

There is no rangefinder cam on R lenses to activate the x5 display and focus peaking so the only way to enable them is via the front button on the camera. After you enable the magnification you can switch between x5 and x10 via the rear top right thumbwheel. I've found with most M and R lenses that x5 gives the best focus peaking visibility. Some R lenses, in particular older ones need to be stopped down perhaps one or two stops before the red outline of focus peaking becomes apparent. One of the best ways to practice using focus peaking is to focus on the black and white bar code printed on the packaging of many domestic items.

 

(2) When viewing a scene using the EVF the camera automatically adjusts the EVF display to give an optimum viewing image regardless of the actual exposure being determined by the camera or set manually. It's only when you half depress the shutter button does the EVF image change to show the image as determined by the exposure setting. So you can have a normal looking image in the viewfinder which changes to lighter or darker when you press the shutter release depending on whether the scene is over or under exposed.

 

Bob.

[algrove]

With R lenses one must push the #3 button on the front of the camera to activate any assistance. It takes some getting used to at first. I am away from home right now without camera or manual, but make sure automatic is activated somewhere in the Menu. I remember page 173 or 273 is important.

 

Are you using the latest LEM-LER adapter which now comes 6 bit coded for R lenses?

 

On one R-M adapter thread in the past week, I explained in detail how to get the list of R lenses to show.

 

As Bob notes above it is crucial to depress the shutter half way in order to see exposure now and as you have dialed in exposure and cycle through the Info button until you get your current exposure to show at the bottom of the EVF with + or - exposure based on your f stop or speed..

[woorob]

Thanks to both of you for the prompt replies. I will check into the fix tomorrow. I sincerely appreciate the insights and will let you know what I discover.

 

Bob

[01af]

Some R lenses, in particular older ones, need to be stopped down perhaps one or two stops before the red outline of focus peaking becomes apparent.

That's an important point indeed.

 

Live view is so accurate, you can clearly see the lens performance improving when stopping down. Most people believe live-view focusing will always be easiest and most accurate at full aperture due to depth-of-field being at minimum. Not so! With most lenses, stopping down by 1/2 or one f-stop will greatly improve sharpness and contrast and hence make focusing easier. In some cases, focus peaking at full aperture doesn't work at all because there simply is nothing to peak upon, due to poor lens performance. Only the finest lenses are good enough to be easily and accurately focused at full aperture.

[algrove]

Well put, but something else to keep in mind is while using the EVF be sure to cycle over to the view where you get the exposure + and - at the bottom of the EVF. You cycle through the different EVF views by using the Info button in the center of the round silver actuator.

[woorob]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

With some help from the forum, I've discovered that my difficulties from yesterday were all self-inflicted. Like a dummy, I was pressing the wrong button on the front of the camera. Duh.

 

Once I figured that out, everything went as expected. Focus peaking seems to require a tripod, especially with longer lenses, but is a very worthwhile addition.

 

Based on a series of test shots, I am very impressed with the quality of the R lenses, especially the APO lenses, of which I have two (100 Macro and 180/2.8).

 

The difference in image quality between the M and M9-P seems incremental, but there is an improvement even though subtle. I have a "Thumbie" on my M9-P and much prefer its ergonomics over the bump-out of the M. The M's rangefinder seems considerably better (as others have noted) and I like the EVF quite a bit.

 

A question that perhaps some one might be able to help with -- the shot I took with my 500mm Telyt-M mirror lens came out quite dark. All others were properly exposed. Any thoughts as to what could have caused this?

 

Again, many thanks for the help!