How to focus a Leica M rangefinder

[earleygallery]

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I can't say I've ever thought of it as a benefit. I certainly don't miss it when I switch to an SLR.

 

I guess I already visualise for the lens I'm using, I 'see' a 35mm or 50mm field of view and compose accordingly.

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[Steve Ricoh]

Reading Thorsten's Minority Report (am I really in the minority ?) it does provide food for thought, I agree that cameras should be as simple as possible to allow as much creative control, that's if you have a creative eye. But it begs the question in my mind, can someone be taught to be photographically creative?

[edwardkaraa]

Thorsten thinks too much fuss is made over the ability to see outside the frame lines on an M rangefinder; his very interesting article says this:

 

From this I personally conclude that the expanded view doesn't matter in reality. I seldom notice, and I never marvel nor think "Wow, it is so nice to see what is outside the frame."

 

But given the discrepancy between the view through the lens and the view through the viewfinder (parallax) the expanded view avoids giving you a false sense of security - what you see is what you get, plus or minus a little bit around the lines. I agree it's nothing to swoon about, but it is important.

I didn't think much of the M viewfinder until I used the SL exclusively for a few months. Viewing strictly through the lens felt claustrophobic. I had to keep the left eye open to have a feeling of what was coming into the frame. It was with great relief that I went back to shooting with an M.

[Steve Ricoh]

I can ease your pain, send me your SL and any fear of using it again will be banished:)

[Manoleica]

I can ease your pain, send me your SL and any fear of using it again will be banished:)

Get in the Q - I've already sent him a prepaid shipping label - '()'

[willeica]

HCB was another time. Appreciated as his photographs are by connoisseurs, they probably would not make the grade on Flickr nowadays.

 

I agree, but I feel that is a great pity. What we want to see are great photographs rather than great sharpness. The obsession with sharpness is damaging 'real photography' which is ultimately about what is contained in an image. I am glad to see that the judges in the Master of Photography (all images taken by Leica cameras) are concentrating on image content rather than sharpness. It would be nice to see this message getting out to a wider audience. An awful lot of the 'babble' on online forums is about sharpness with guys (mainly) talking about the subject of sharpness and gear characteristics rather than attempting to improve their photography.

 

William

[edwardkaraa]

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Get in the Q - I've already sent him a prepaid shipping label - '()'

LOL

[FixedGear]

Well being in focus is only one aspect of a photo. A lot of Steve McCurry's work is not massively sharp either. Being able to zoom in to 100% on our computers has lead to an obsession on sharpness to the point where it's almost the only thing photographers think about anymore.

 

I was running through a field of long grass with my daughter the other day. I was running, she was running and I was taking photos.

 

Focus was very difficult.

 

Many were in focus, but the one below is by far my favourite shot. I missed focus on her completely and even cropped her head in half.

 

By luck the two storks of grass to the right are more or less in focus and anchor the composition.

 

This was one if my happy accidents. I didn't intend this at all, but it sums up the feeling of summer to me more than anything I could have thought to compose on purpose and I love it

 

My words.

[Overgaard]

Just added the 3rd part of this 5-piece article:

 

Manual Focus with the Leica EVF-2 Electronic ViewFinder