Summilux-M 75mm – What can I expect?

[01af]

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Yesterday I got my 75 mm Summilux back from service for the second time, with no improvement at all.

Well ... the other day I purchased a pre-owned Apo-Summicron-M 90 mm Asph lens from a private seller. He said the lens was cleaned and calibrated for the use on his digital Leica M camera by Leica's Customer Service (now Customer Care) a few weeks before.

 

On my camera, it front-focused badly, approx. 20 cm short at portrait distance and several meters short at 30 m distance. Other lenses were focusing just fine so it was not the camera to blame. I had to send it in for adjustment eight (!) times before they got it right. Sometimes the lens came back with the front-focus slightly reduced but still far from usable, sometimes it came back with absolutely no improvement at all. In one case, it came back worse than before. All in all, the process took almost two years.

 

Today, the lens is fine. So don't give up just yet.

 

 

 

By the way, when I later visited Leitz Park in Wetzlar, I asked a Customer Care technician why my lens had to make the journey from me to Customer Care and back no less than eight times. All I got was a blank stare and a shrug.

[evikne]

Yes!

Was it serviced in Germany?  If so, contact customer service. I've  sent you a pm re contact name and details

 

Regards,

Mark

 

Thank you for your PM. Yes, it was serviced in Germany. I will send them an email, but I will just test my lens a little more first. 

[tom0511]

I am close to giging up to rely on rangefinder for lenses longer than 50mm at wide open aparture. I had a 75/1.4 with slight front focus, I had my 75/2.0 at leica twice and it still shows slight backfocus at certain distances, als impossible to reliable focus my 135/3.4 without EV.

 

I get pretty good focus with my 28-50mm lenses, but everything longer seems hit or miss.

 

I dont think super fast lenses with shallow DOF like 75/1.4 or 1.2 or Nocti 50/0.95 make sense (for me) on a rangefinder.

 

Another thing is focus and recompose can also lead to small faults in focus distance.

 

I get much better results using fast lenses on the SL (for example with the 75/2.0 SL or 50/1.4) where my focus hit rate is quite high.

 

So for now I use mainly 28-50mm on the M10, and if I go to longer lenses I either use AF-camera or EVF.

[6bit]

I almost purchased the 75/2 but decided against it. So many threads dealing with focus issues. I’m still considering the 75/2.4 because it seems have the freeet complaints.

 

GL and keep us posted.

[Gregm61]

I consider the M240 plus the EVF2 a "Best of All Worlds" combination. Rangefinder focusing when practical, EVF viewing for composition and most accurate focusing at f1.4-2 and with longer lenses. The EVF make using the 75mm f2 APO and 135mm f3.4 lenses 100% reliable and composing with the 18 or 21mm Super Elmars 100% accurate. I'm having more fun today with my M outfit than I ever have and considering a pretty massive reduction in the size of my second system, which is seeing less and less use.

[helged]

As mentioned above, the evf offers - if nothing else - a great test bed for troublesome lenses at all apertures. Most of my Noct and Lux lenses (pluss 90Cron-M) have been to Wetzlar after confirming focus issue with the evf. Once the calibration sits, its a pleasure to use the lenses. Also wide open. Otherwise it can be a highly frustrating experience.

 

Lykke til!

Edited June 15, 2018 by helged

[ckuwajima]

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I recently purchased a Summilux-M 75mm, made a few careless shots using the rangefinder and EVF, and felt that it was front focusing a bit using the rangefinder.

Sent it to be serviced, but it turned out that it was spot on, nothing had to be done.

I was puzzled.

 

It turns out that:

1. ​I was not being careful and thorough enough focusing, and
2. My right eye is a bit hypermetropic therefore switching to focus using my left eye yielded far more success.

It is certainly a challenging lens, but I am loving the results.

[evikne]

Yesterday I got my 75 Summilux back from service (Leica Germany) for the third time. I quickly discovered the discouraging fact that the back focusing is not any better. All my tests show the same. Today I also had a real outdoor photo shoot, and when I came back home I had to delete all the pictures because none of them were in focus.

 

But how is this possible? I have four other fast lenses that focuses perfectly wide open with my M10. One of them is a Noctilux f/1, and I have no problems at all nailing the focus almost every time when using it wide open. So my technique is not the problem. And it cannot be the camera. Or is it possible that a camera focuses perfectly with four other lenses, but not the fifth? How can Leica approve this lens when my experience indicates the opposite?

 

To me, this is a mystery.

Edited August 18, 2018 by evikne

[frame-it]

maybe you should send them the lens and camera ?

[evikne]

maybe you should send them the lens and camera ?

 

This is of course a possibility, but the M10 is the only camera I own now, and I will very reluctantly live without it for several months. And what about my other lenses? Will they be out of focus instead? Maybe the only solution is to send them my camera and all lenses? 

[lct]

[...] Or is it possible that a camera focuses perfectly with four other lenses, but not the fifth? [...]

 

Yes if the fifth lens is more difficult to focus than the others, which is the case of your 75/1.4, compared even to a 50/1, unless you have more difficult lenses like 75/1.25 or 135/3.4. Better thing to do is to borrow or rent an EVF as i suggested previously. This way you will see if the problem comes from the lens or the body. Otherwise i would ask Leica or a good workshop like Will van Maanen's in the Netherlands.

Edited August 18, 2018 by lct

[otto.f]

Will van Maanen does not do this, I know from experience, albeit in 2010. There is no other way than sending in all your lenses with the camera. I’ve done that too in 2010 with my M9 and since then every lens I had and bought afterwards is spot on, whether it’s a Summitar from 1946 or the latest Summicron 28, including my Summilux 75. But call them first and keep one person as your contact in this matter. It’s often a question of lack of personal responsibility in these matters of repeated faults. It would also help if you would tell them what your favorite aperture is, because it is and remains a lens with focus shift, one formum member complains more than another about this.

Apart from that I must say that I have my third 75lux now and cannot rationalize away my strong impression that this one is the best I ever had.

Edited August 18, 2018 by otto.f

[evikne]

It would also help if you would tell them what your favorite aperture is, because it is and remains a lens with focus shift, one formum member complains more than another about this.

 

I have told Leica two times that my favorite aperture is f/1.4, to avoid/limit any focus shift.

[evikne]

Better thing to do is to borrow or rent an EVF as i suggested previously. This way you will see if the problem comes from the lens or the body.

 

How can an EVF show if the problem comes from the camera or the lens? Isn't an EVF just the same as the camera's live view? I have tested the lens with live view, and that of course gives perfect results. But I have still no idea what is causing problems when I use the rangefinder.

Edited August 18, 2018 by evikne

[lct]

How can an EVF show if the problem comes from the camera or the lens? I have tested the lens with the camera's live view, and that of course gives perfect results. But I have still no idea which of them causing problems when I use the rangefinder.

 

You may wish to focus with the EVF and check if the RF is also in focus afterwards. Better use a tripod and aim at a subject matter in the centre of the frame so that RF accuracy can me checked through the focus patch. 

[pico]

Some of us old users focus then adjust. It is second nature for us, and you do have be an old person to handle such. It is a part of expertise to be independent of promises and be attuned to real world practices.

Edited August 18, 2018 by pico

[evikne]

The end of the story:

Yesterday I received my 75mm Summilux from service for the fourth time. Exactly one year has passed since I purchased the lens from eBay. I have tested it for two days, … and FINALLY the focus is perfect at all distances!

I'm looking forward to use my "new" lens! 😊

[SiggiGun]

The only way to have no focus issues beetwen near field and infinite focus, is a lens with floating elements. the 75LUX has no floating elements. So, if you will have at all distance a perfect focus (whatever the calibration is!), you should use a EVF.

[evikne]

1 hour ago, SiggiGun said:

The only way to have no focus issues beetwen near field and infinite focus, is a lens with floating elements. the 75LUX has no floating elements. So, if you will have at all distance a perfect focus (whatever the calibration is!), you should use a EVF.

I asked Leica to prioritize aperture f/1.4 when calibrating, to avoid focus shift issues. The most important thing for me, is that the lens performs well wide open. I don't know if this has any relevance regarding distance, but I haven't experienced any focus problems so far.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jaeger]

1 hour ago, evikne said:

I asked Leica to prioritize aperture f/1.4 when calibrating, to avoid focus shift issues. The most important thing for me, is that the lens performs well wide open. I don't know if this has any relevance regarding distance, but I haven't experienced any focus problems so far.

My Leica lenses have back and/or infinity focusing issues too.  I had some done 2 times but I worries the dealer get agitated so I settled with 80% accuracy other I blamed myself for bad eye sight.  I guess your experiences encourage me to get it done again.  My favorite shooting style is also wide open and prioritizing at f/1.4 is something I will tell them to do next time.  Thanks for sharing!