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Focus shift through apertures


danedit28

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Focus shift at f/2.8?

- stapler (focus on "Bostich" - 12 MB file)

- books (focus on "roman" - 12 MB file)

 

Those are good results. On my lens, the world 'roman' would be entirely out of focus.

 

With regard to the comment of "focus on the nose" and your subject will be in focus... what if my subject doesn't have a nose? Not everything that I photograph has a nose.

 

Anyway, I sent the lens back for replacement but I'm dubious. I suspect I'm going to have to re-invest in a Summilux ASPH where there might not be as much focus shift.

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I don't see significant differences between my 50mm lenses as far as the famous "focus shift" is concerned (mostly a fad if you ask me), besides my Summilux 50/1.4 asph which in Wetzlar for lens calibration... Will come back as accurate as your Summicron will be hopefully.

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Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 - Review / Test Report - Analysis

 

This website shows pretty much the exact shift that I experienced. At f/2, you can accurately focus through the RF. So my question remains, how on earth can you focus through the RF at f/2.8, f/4 and beyond? All of the focal planes at those apertures do not match the RF.

 

This all started when I noticed that all of my photos at f/4 and even f/5.6 were soft and clearly back-focusing.

 

I can confirm this, too

One "solution" for this is: Let the lens be optimized for f 2.8 or f 3.4by customer service.

Then the focus for f2.8 to f 16 is never a problem.

But focusing below f2.8 is not optimal, but can be compensated with a little practice.

 

The other solution:

Use some other 50mm.

50mm planar zm or 50mm summilux asph or ??

 

regards

 

Reiner

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a 50/2 Summicron-M v.4, that is being serviced by Leica at the moment. The lens does not quite reach infinty at f/2. This after 6-bit coding and "adjustment" by Leica. So the lens had to go back to them and is currently in Germany. They seem to have problem finding something wrong.

 

Has anyone experienced that the Sunnicron-M 50/2 has problems at infinty when the aperture is set to f/2?

 

(The entire procedure has so far taken six months.:( )

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  • 2 weeks later...

For what it's worth, I returned the Summicron and re-purchased a 50mm Summilux ASPH.

 

I analyzed the focus shift while rolling through the apertures and while the focal plane does shift back away from the camera, the focal plane always maintains within the original RF focal point.

 

Lesson learned. Stick with the Summilux.

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  • 2 years later...

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I can confirm this, too

One "solution" for this is: Let the lens be optimized for f 2.8 or f 3.4by customer service.

Then the focus for f2.8 to f 16 is never a problem.

But focusing below f2.8 is not optimal, but can be compensated with a little practice.

 

The other solution:

Use some other 50mm.

50mm planar zm or 50mm summilux asph or ??

 

regards

 

Reiner

 

 I'm ressurecting this thread.

 

I just tried a almost like new Summicron 50mm v5 today. It's manufacturing date is 5th of april 2015.

I did a couple of focus tests on my MM, and the Summicron slightly front focuses at f2, is spot on at f/2.8, and slightly changes towards very slight back focus up to f/5.6, which goes away at f/8.

 

So it seems like the newer ones are calibrated at f/2.8 from the factory.

 

Still though, kind of disappointed. I had no idea that the 50 Summicron v5 suffered from focus shift at all - especially the newer factory 6-bit coded and calibrated for digital copies. The shift at f2 is noticeable, and I usually either use my lenses wide open, or stopped down between f/4-f8, so the f/2.8 optimization doesn't really work out as well.

 

Which leaves me with the options of either a Zeiss 50mm Planar ZM (does this lens also exhibit minor focus shift?) or an APO-Summicron 50/2, as I don't want to repurchase a Summilux 50 ASPH, as I'm not a big fan of the ergonomics of it.

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Zeiss Planar 2/50 at 1 meter.

f2,0 & f2,8:

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f4,0 & f5,6

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f8,0

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I tested two other 50mm also. First Voigtländer Nokton 1,1/50

f1,1 & f1,4:

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f2,0 & f2,8

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f4,0 & f5,6

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f8,0

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Jupiter 8 2,0/50

f2,0 &f2,8

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f4,0 & f5,6

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f8,0

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Zeiss Planar 2/50 at 1 meter.

f2,0 & f2,8:

 

Thanks! So it seems like the Planar doesn't focus shift from F2-F5.6 in your pictures, but strangely enough, at F8 it seems like it either does shift a lot, or that diffraction is kicking in already? The F8 picture is noticeably less sharp than F5.6.

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At infinity the lens is also much sharper at f5,6 than f8,0 in the centre. In the corners it is sharper at f8,0, but overall I prefer f5,6.

I really like this lens. There are no obvious faults like focus shift and flare. It is cheap and you can have it in silver for the same price and weight as a black one. It has the same length as a Summicron, but it is fatter (E39 vs E43 filter).

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