50mm Summilux ASPH - What is your hit rate at 1.4?

[ZHNL]

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I find that curious!

I have the Sony A7S and use the Leica 50/1.4 specifically because the M10 (or any M camera I have) will not focus for me on fast moving subjects. I shoot rescue dogs regularly, to assist re-homing them, and they are frequently 'spaced out' from trauma. Focusing the centre spot on a wriggling dog with an M does not allow time to recompose. The Sony gives me 80+% hit rate, because I can focus on any part of the EVF screen. The bit that annoys me is the nano delay for the EVF to fire up when raising the camera to my eye. I do miss shots because of it.

A7s will be better compare to A7RII because of resolution difference. That is happen for me during transition from D700 to D8xx with R lens.

 

For the way you shooting, I prefer shoot R glass with OVF.(I changed matte focus screen to better show DOF for my Nikon ) however, I don't have perfect hit rate. Usually, close distance better and struggle with long distance. I rely on green dot at later cases. No EVF delay at all though.

Shooting Sony with M lens and focus peaking turn on, sometime, with light collect on subject eyes, peaking will work, but peaking window is quite large for me for A7RII especially at mid to long distance, in the end, it doesn't guarantee I get a perfect focused image. It has about the same accuracy of rely on green dot of Nikon. However, many time, peaking will not turn on because of light condition, also by directly view through EVF always make me dizzy during outdoor shooting, fresh rate still no way to compare Bright OVF experience so far, I have to rely on magnify to guarantee the focus at that condition.

[JeTexas]

I had issues with backfocus on a VC 50mm f1.1, but that was due to a lens element having shifted. My 50 Summilux has always been right on, even at f1.4. However, I do have trouble with my 90mm f2.8 wide open. When I focus the rangefinder on people's eyes, I tend to have their ears in focus instead. I now use the EVF for portraits when shooting with that lens.

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[stephan54]

My hit rate is over 90% (static subjects) with the M10. A bit less with moving subjects, but practising helps to improve satisfactory results.  I guess the brighter viewfinder of the M10 helps.

[archiea]

Good Question... For me its even tougher because I shoot musicians performing live and I shoot using the summilux on a non-leica Camera (Canon eos-m5).

It uses an EVF and also a tilting LCD as well as a focus peaking and zooming for focus assist. 

 

I haven't tracked my hit/misses since I know there will be many misses and I focus on what I think are good compositions and Framing first. I've ditched perfectly focused images that have bad composition over less-than-sharp images with excellent composition. 

 

Then you realize focus is relative:

 

1) "Facebook Focus" is what I call images destined for social media and won't ever really be blown up.

2) say your less-than-sharp subject is still the sharpest thing in the image, then sharpness is relative

3) Environment portraiture, what I shoot, seems to have a better tolerance to less than sharp images if everything else is good, i.e. subject, composition, etc.  That being said, a soft image is just soft...

4) Assuming you satisfy 2 and 3, throwing a slight high pass filter to sharpen the image helps a bit to create sharpness without much artifacting when done right.

 

As far as shooting, since my camera has zooming and focus peaking, I often (Digitally) zoom to focus, with the focus box positioned where I want the subject and then just hit the shutter, since i already composed the image before the digital zoom.

 

The talent can have details that the focus peaking picks up really well. For men its the 5 o'clock shadow, and for the women it can be the hair or, if they have it, glitter embedded in the make-up.

 

Sometimes I prefocus on an object like their microphone since it triggers the focus peaking clearly.  Then I adjust for the talent entering frame and hope.

 

I found the focus peaking best if i use the digital zoom assist as well. the problem with the focus peaking, at least on the canon M5 camera, is that the peaking has a long rolloff on the clipping of the focus peaking. I think the Sonys and Fujis have a tighter clip on the focus peaking. I have been training to get the focus peaking to assist WITHOUT the digital zoom.. its doable but I think you need something like a 4 MP evf to get a reliable read on the image. 

 

Its interesting to note where my DSLR with AF does MISS.  its not in the focusing my target,  that it always gets... its if my target is mis selected because it picked the wrong focus point.  I find myself chasing that if I have it on single point and I'm chasing my subject  with the AF joystick 80's nintendo style. 

 

On a rangefinder its a non issue since you always center focus. 

 

One note on the Canon EOS-m5.  Using it with the Leica 50mm f1.4 summilux is a hybrid joy. The Eos M-5 has a feature unique to all canon cameras called "Touch Drag. One can configure the rear touch display as a trackpad while using the EVF to position the focusing rectangle! Punch the zoom in button for the EVF and I'm suddenly zoomed into the area I needed to focus. This allows me to compose first, reposition the focus rectangle, push in zoom to focus and then just shoot, no recomposing.  

 

On the M10 this can actually be just as fast since you can set the digital zoom to activate as soon as you have it,

 

So while I do have misses, its overshadowed by the winners that I get since they are very dynamic.  Also when I factor the misses I've gotten from DLSR AF selection which is a non issue with manual lenses, it may not even out but it does put into context that misses are part of the game when you shoot at f1.4 with like a two inch DOF! 

[silverchrome]

Thank you all for your replies.  Some good tips there.  

 

I suspect my problem is a result of several things, namely, recomposing, the thin depth of field at 1.4 and perhaps the subject matter.  

 

I don't usually like my subjects (people) in the middle of the frame so I often recompose. I try to keep the lens parallel to the subject when I recompose, but as a few of you have pointed out, the depth of field at 1.4 is razor thin and probably not enough to accommodate for any movement I or the subject make(s).

 

My hit rate is better when the subject is in the centre but I don't always like that type of composition!

 

The EVF doesn't really make much difference to my hit rate, and it is not something I use regularly because of its bulkiness and its inability to focus on anywhere else but the centre.  Is there any reason why Leica did not implement the type of focus peeking found on, for example, Sony's?

 

I guess recomposing is the real killer here.

 

I'm pretty sure my rangefinder is correctly calibrated because I have checked it several times in the past, but I will check it again when I get my Summilux back from Wetzlar.  

 

I think I will keep the Summilux.   As I have already said, the rendering is beautiful and it's clear from the feedback here that the the inability to hit focus every time is my fault rather than the Len's, so I can't blame it by selling it!

[ShivaYash]

Mine is around 8/10.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ru2far2c]

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The EVF doesn't really make much difference to my hit rate, and it is not something I use regularly because of its bulkiness and its inability to focus on anywhere else but the centre. Is there any reason why Leica did not implement the type of focus peeking found on, for example, Sony's?

 

If your using the EVF/LV you may want to try this. It might or it might not work for you.

Shoot raw with jpeg. Make the jpg B&W turn focus peaking to red. Makes it easier to see the red focus peaking with the B&W image when focusing using the EVF and or live view. It still focuses in the center and you'll have to recompose your image after the digital zoom yet you'll be able to see where your focused.

 

I just picked up a 50mm summilux coming from a 50mm summicron. Have no idea of my success rate. I however find it improved my percentage of usable images with this method when using 50 lux, 90 cron and noctilux.

Edit: I don't use the EVF/LV as often as I use to do at one time with my M240. Also wear glasses as well.

Edited July 19, 2017 by ru2far2c

[jplomley]

On the Leica SL, my hit rate is near 100%. On the M9M, about 60% with 1.25x Magnifier.