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Focus limit not working on 24-90 and 90-280 after FW update


wlaidlaw

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I posted this in the general thread on the FW update but I think it has been buried in arguing by other folks.

 

Focus limit no longer seems to be working after FW update with either the 24-90 or 90-280. I assume it worked before. I wanted to use it just now, trying to photograph a pair of military helicopters playing tag, below the level of my patio (the house is built on the edge of a cliff). The SL was really struggling to focus on them with the 90-280, so I thought if I could limit the focus range to say 150 metres to infinity, that would speed things up. The menu item is greyed out in all modes on the camera. Is this only available in certain settings and if so what are they please? The Manual is about as much use on this matter as it is for most things. The 90-280 instruction book is equally silent. 

 

Wilson

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I may be wrong ...... but I don't think either of the current zooms had focus limiting  ...... I have certainly never noticed it on the menus or used it. 

 

I have always assumed it was for a future macro lens or similar .....

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In the SL Manual it says any lenses on which this facility is not available will be stated as such in the lens' manual. The 90-280 is silent on the matter. Good heavens it is not like Leica to make an error in their manuals :D  I thought the whole point of focus limiting would be most useful in a long lens, where the focus group probably has to move over the greatest distance. The 90-280 appears to be appreciably slower to focus than the 24-90, which seems almost instantaneous. 

 

Wilson

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Focus limiting is the sort of thing that really should be implemented with a switch on the lens, the way Canon and Nikon do.  I didn't even realize it was something that the SL was capable of.  But burying it in a menu is an easy way to forget about it and end up missing photos without even realizing why.

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As Leica stated in their booklet the SL 90-280 is the fastest focusing SL lens (at least before todays update). This corresponds fully with my daily experience.

If your experience is different, then it's probably time to get it checked.

 

But I also never used the "limits", and did not even know it was available.

I use it with Nikon teles - but these lenses usually have one or more knobs to activate it (several to be ready for both vertical and horizontal camera direction). At the moment I cannot really think how useful/quick it is hidden in a menu.

Edited by steppenw0lf
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As Leica stated in their booklet the SL 90-280 is the fastest focusing SL lens (at least before todays update). This corresponds fully with my daily experience.

If your experience is different, then it's probably time to get it checked.

 

But I also never used the "limits", and did not even know it was available.

I use it with Nikon teles - but these lenses usually have one or more knobs to activate it (several to be ready for both vertical and horizontal camera direction). At the moment I cannot really think how useful/quick it is hidden in a menu.

 

 

I often use a macro lens as a general purpose lens. On the one AF macro lens I have (the Macro-Elmarit-DG 45mm f/2.8 ASPH for Micro-FourThirds), I have the limiter on most of the time so that the focus doesn't have to hunt through the whole range. It happens to be an on-lens switch in that case, but it would make no difference to me if it were a menu command ... I use it so infrequently.

 

G

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This is a simple selector, the distances are fixed and provided/configured by the lens manufacturer. (e.g. if macro to 1:1 is allowed or just a limited (faster) range.)

 

I was referring to a more sophisticated dynamic limit. On the longer teles (Nikon) the distances can be selected. So if you know the distance to a helicopter or bird you can save it as a limit and have the lens "automagically" move to this distance and stop there. Maybe this was a feature of older lenses (2.8/80-200), when AF was still slower. And possibly the newer lenses do all only have fixed ranges. My equipment is not the very latest. (My newest lens EF 100-400 has only the fixed limits, not the more sophisticated buttons.)

 

Now I recall, it is called AF lock button in Nikon gear.

And the very latest 2.8/70-200 has again four of them. (feature was missing in some in between models).

Edited by steppenw0lf
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The 90-280 was not working well trying to focus on the fast moving and jinking Eurocopter Tigres. I assume the front one was trying to break a missile lock from the tracking helicopter. I tried various settings AFS, AFC, Tracking On, Tracking Off, Spot, Zone, Field. Nothing would seem to stop the lens hunting from really close focus but pretty much never as far out as infinity. Manual focus with its variable speed electronic coupling did not work as well as I think mechanical focusing would have worked, if say I had had my 80-200 Vario Elmar-R or 300 Tele Tessar on the camera, neither of which I have with me in France. I think focus hunting seems to be more of a feature of CDAF systems than PDAF systems. The problem seems to be that the lens defaults to near focus and then moves out to further away focus waiting for the subject in question's contrast to pop into focus on the sensor. If the subject is a fast moving object, the focus does not seem to be able to keep up. It locked a couple of times very briefly with tracking but neither time a shot I wanted. I wonder if I have a faulty lens. 

 

Wilson

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The 90-280 was not working well trying to focus on the fast moving and jinking Eurocopter Tigres. I assume the front one was trying to break a missile lock from the tracking helicopter. I tried various settings AFS, AFC, Tracking On, Tracking Off, Spot, Zone, Field. Nothing would seem to stop the lens hunting from really close focus but pretty much never as far out as infinity. Manual focus with its variable speed electronic coupling did not work as well as I think mechanical focusing would have worked, if say I had had my 80-200 Vario Elmar-R or 300 Tele Tessar on the camera, neither of which I have with me in France. I think focus hunting seems to be more of a feature of CDAF systems than PDAF systems. The problem seems to be that the lens defaults to near focus and then moves out to further away focus waiting for the subject in question's contrast to pop into focus on the sensor. If the subject is a fast moving object, the focus does not seem to be able to keep up. It locked a couple of times very briefly with tracking but neither time a shot I wanted. I wonder if I have a faulty lens. 

 

Wilson

Similar to GPS not working in China maybe it doesn't lock on NATO hardware.

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Similar to GPS not working in China maybe it doesn't lock on NATO hardware.

 

One of the crew waved and smiled at me - yes they got that close! The French main military exercise area, Le Camp de Canjeurs, starts about 4km away from my house as the crow (or helicopter) flies. I can often hear the 120 and 155 mm canons banging away as they play at soldiers. 

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