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I realized I am not good at rangefinder...


jaeger

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My focus thru the rangefinder is off almost every time.  I setup a tripod to test it again, no matter how much I tried on the RF, I still see a little off comparing thru the EVF.  I think my eye signs are not good enough.  When aperture wide opens, the 50mm is the easiest and I have 50/50 chance of accuracy, the 90mm is the hardest for me and 90% failing rate. 

 

I've tried many techniques and keeping both eyes open give best results but still not good enough.  Does anyone had this problem and how do you overcome this issue?  I am 50, need reading glasses.  Should I be using SL instead?  

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Strange, for me it was the opposite when upgrading from DSLR for RF. It took me almost no time and my focussing score is now near 100%.

I wear glasses as well. Both reading and long distance.

With reading glasses on long distance is like Balkan winter soup, thus I wear always long distance glasses behind my M10.

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Jaeger, do you see clearly the focussing patch ?

 

When you focus, the discrepency of "in focus" from "out of focus" are they clearly defined ?

 

You may try in Leica boutique some correction lenses to see if it's better.

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I do see things clear thru the patch.  I put 2 boxes together at the best I could (on a tripod), but when I check the EVF, I still have a tiny bit off, sometimes left, sometimes right... so it is me.  The camera has just came back from NJ Leica to correct the alignment issue and hot pixels.  The local Leica shop manager confirmed it has issue before shipping out.

 

Jaeger, do you see clearly the focussing patch ?

 

When you focus, the discrepency of "in focus" from "out of focus" are they clearly defined ?

 

You may try in Leica boutique some correction lenses to see if it's better.

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Check whether you hold the camera straight in front of your eye. Your pupil and the RF patch must be lined up in the optical axis. Otherwise, if you hold the camera skewed, you get exactly the kind of problems you describe.

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Check whether you hold the camera straight in front of your eye. Your pupil and the RF patch must be lined up in the optical axis. Otherwise, if you hold the camera skewed, you get exactly the kind of problems you describe.

Focus with the EVF then using the rangefinder, without changing the focus, see if you can get the patches to line up by moving your eye or tilting the camera.

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It is easy for a finger to cover one of the rangefinder's two viewing windows, especially the one on the right hand side. If this happens then the rangefinder doesn't work. Make sure that both viewing windows are clean and clear.

 

The rangefinder was developed in the late 1880s for naval gunnery. It is a simple but very accurate principle.

 

If you wear spectacles you may find you need a dioptre to be fitted to the viewfinder ocular. (I have a +1.5 dioptre because of long sightedness. It's an age thing!) 

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Mostly, the 24mm at distance between 6 and 12 feet; 50mm between 10 and 20 feet; 90mm between 20 and 35 feet.

Okay.

 

Now....if you set the aperture at f/8 and shoot at those distances do your images look generally more in focus at the focus point you were trying to get?

Edited by jdlaing
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I do see things clear thru the patch.  I put 2 boxes together at the best I could (on a tripod), but when I check the EVF, I still have a tiny bit off, sometimes left, sometimes right... so it is me.  The camera has just came back from NJ Leica to correct the alignment issue and hot pixels.  The local Leica shop manager confirmed it has issue before shipping out.

 

RF calibration issue aside (get it fixed first anyway), I would like to point out a problem with checking with EVF. The RF calibration (even if done correctly) may not be coinciding with maximum sharpness that you may get by using EVF (zoomed in actual image from sensor). This is due to complex curvy focal plane (different from lens to lens and different at different distances). The RF focusing gives you an optimized sharpness in the entire plane (and not maximum sharpness in the center).

 

This has been discussed quite a bit in the past. Therefore my suggestion will be:

- Get RF calibrated with the lenses that you use (send both) if not done already.

- If eye sight is really poor then get diopter. I am of similar age to yours and use glasses for reading (1.5) but I focus ok without needing the glasses. Your situation may vary.

- Reset expectation for image sharpness for the output/display need of yours. For me this took care of my ongoing anxiety about RF. :)

Edited by jmahto
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RF focusing gives an optimized sharpness at the place of the RF patch hence a lesser one elsewhere in case of field curvature IMHO. 

Well, I don't know what "optimized" means in RF calibration therefore I may not comment further other than my understanding that is not necessarily maximum sharpness at the patch.

Edited by jmahto
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