TL2 AF with 55-135

[cdekter]

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Has anyone been able to find a way to get reliable AF with the 55-135 on the TL2, at long distances?  In my experience, even with the latest 1.2 firmware, at distance the AF always misses, usually focusing behind the subject. On a recent trip to Yellowstone 100% of my AF shots at 135mm were back focused.

 

It's such a pity because this lens is truly fantastic optically. I've shot some manual focus landscapes on a tripod with it and it is outstandingly sharp with great contrast and colors. It also has nice background blur when shooting up close. 

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[Einst_Stein]

Have not happened to me. Yolin

[RickP]

I had trouble until I switched to “spot” auto focus.. now it does very well.

 

Rick

[tritentrue]

Yup, had pretty much that same problem, mostly at infinity distances, regardless of AF area, and mitigated slightly only by shooting at f/8 whenever I had enough light. What made me certain that the camera was the cause of the problem was that the lens was spectacularly sharp on my old model T.

 

When my TL2 developed other problems as well, I sent in the 55-135mm along with the body to Leica for repair. Their response regarding the AF issue with the 55-135mm was that it was "performing to specification."

 

Following the other issue I had with Leica, detailed in another thread, this was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused me to ditch the entire system. If the poorly-focused images I got with this combination are "to specification" by the standards of the current Leica management, then I prefer using the older manual-focus lenses, constructed under management whose standards were peerless.

 

 

[cdekter]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I have been doing some testing using spot AF and it does seem to be more reliable. It still requires decent light, a good contrasty subject and a steady hand. Sensor stabilization would be such a huge leap forward for this system, although it probably can’t be put into such a petite form factor

[jaapv]

Has anyone been able to find a way to get reliable AF with the 55-135 on the TL2, at long distances?  In my experience, even with the latest 1.2 firmware, at distance the AF always misses, usually focusing behind the subject. On a recent trip to Yellowstone 100% of my AF shots at 135mm were back focused.

 

It's such a pity because this lens is truly fantastic optically. I've shot some manual focus landscapes on a tripod with it and it is outstandingly sharp with great contrast and colors. It also has nice background blur when shooting up close. 

This is not surprising.

The area of the AF field will be larger than the subject, forcing the camera to go for what it deemes to be the main subject, i.e. the background. 

If you want to focus on a small object in front of a contrasty background, use spot focus.