Go to Aperture setting.

[erniethemilk]

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Having picked up an M10-P last autumn it hasn’t been without trial or tribulation learning to manually focus with a rangefinder.  I still struggle with certain subjects, such as people and attaining focus fast enough, much easier when there’s a straight line I can use,

Part of this I believe is having come from DSLR’s & Fujifilm cameras which are simple to operate and shoot totally wide open with the assistance of AF. Indeed, the Fujifilm kit I still have and even my old X-Pro1 feels ‘blistering’ in speed focus wise!

I absolutely love my M10 and keep trying to get better with it and use it as much as I can rather than fall back on the auto focussing options I have, but the keeper rate is far lower than on other gear I have. 

What I am learning is that wide open isn’t always the best option with manual focus RF, which is a bit alien to me having spent so much time shooting most of my previous camera gear at 1.4 or 1.8 wide open.
 

So I’m wondering if you have a ‘go to’ aperture setting you fall back on most of the time. 

 

[jdlaing]

f8

And I can maybe help you with focusing.

 

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[erniethemilk]

13 minutes ago, jdlaing said:

f8

And I can maybe help you with focusing.

 

Would be interested to hear your comments 👍

[jdlaing]

5 minutes ago, erniethemilk said:

Would be interested to hear your comments 👍

I sent you a PM.

[fatihayoglu]

+1 for f/8

f 8 is your mate

[jaapv]

At any aperture:

 

[mujk]

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ƒ/8_and_be_there 😊

[evikne]

Here is a similar thread from not so long ago. Maybe you'll find some inspiration there:

 

[jplomley]

Myself, M10 plus 28mm Summicron Asph. v2 parked at f/2. Rarely ever miss a shot. Just the right amount of DOF as error tolerance for focussing, whilst providing a nice separation of subject.

[erniethemilk]

1 hour ago, evikne said:

Here is a similar thread from not so long ago. Maybe you'll find some inspiration there:

 

Thanks for the link - have followed this thread with interest. 

[Anakronox]

I struggle with focusing faster lenses like the 50 Lux, 75 Nokton 1.5, and 90 2.8 wide open.  I either stop them down to f/3.5-4 or just go for the EVF to nail critical focus.  From a slight distance with the 50 Lux i can almost always get my subject in focus. Just in case I don’t want to use the Visoflex, I ordered a 1.25x magnifier and adapter for the M10.  Just waiting on a way to get back to the US to pick it up and test it out alongside an APO 90 Cron

Oh and due to the sawblade bokeh of the 50 Lux ASPH, I swap it out for the 50 Cron v5 if I plan on shooting between f/2-4. I rarely miss with it, even wide open. 

[dkmoore]

If you stop down to f8 be mindful of your shutter speed so that you don't get blurry images that way.

when I started learning the range finder I would practice every day, even if it was in my house and not taking pictures. I'd sit on my couch and look around at different objects and focus as quickly as possible. I'd do this for 5-10 minutes a day. Another way to practice is I have my wife walk forward or backward and I walk the opposite while practice realigning the image patch constantly to practice focusing on the eye. 

Where it gets really tricky is with 1.4 or faster lenses and images with the subject not in the center...That takes a lot of practice and guess work. 

[jaapv]

The point to remember is that stopping down to cover up focusing mistakes does not increase focusing accuracy. It does make the image appear sharp at smaller prints or on screen, but as soon as you crop or make a large print (view at higher magnification) the misfocus will be apparent. If you are ambitious about the technical quality of your images, training  yourself to always focus spot-on is essential.

[250swb]

f/8 is the safe aperture, the one where there is enough DOF front and rear of the focus point to accommodate any slight errors in focus. It also means that in a crowd you can focus on something that isn't necessarily the main subject and quickly recompose before pressing the shutter and be fairly safe to get what you want in focus because you are using hyperfocal focusing.

But focusing for a wide open shot can be difficult if the subject is moving or you need to be quick. You'd normally cover yourself by bracketing the focus point even if the person or object is still. There is no glory nowadays in beating yourself up over it, so if you want to use f/1.4 often enough to justify a Visoflex finder then get one and use focus peaking to nail critical focus every single time. It's always better to work with boring old knowledge and not guesswork or bravado.

[Guest]

Quite a few famous photographers used zone focus without it hindering their careers,,pretty sure cartier bresson and bert hardy used that method mostly.

After all its a very quick way to work,quicker than auto-focus.

Totally agree with practising RF focus skills as well for the many times you don't need lightning speed to catch a fleeting moment.

[jaapv]

Famous photographers from the past... I'm sure they'd be using Autofocus now.

[Mikep996]

But we are not! 

Hmmm...

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Famous photographers from the past... I'm sure they'd be using Autofocus now.

So there is no place or use for zone focus today in your view? 

I mean you still have to wait for the EVF to crank up and AF to lock on with say the Q .

[jaapv]

Very little IMO  - startup times are practically instantaneous with modern cameras - although a bit of anticipation makes that close to moot - simply switch on before the situation develops and AF systems (although not always Leica's  ) have become lightning-fast and precise. I think the technique -in general, there is still the Leica M..., has been overtaken by technology. Having said that, even with manual focus I have always tried to avoid zone focus as much as possible - I hate the imprecision. For me it has always been a last resort.

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[jankap]

There are quite a lot of very fast M-lenses. It should be possible to focus them with the RF, also wide open. Discussing AF is wrong in this thread. One could think of focus peaking with the EVF or a Hoodman loupe for the LCD monitor. By the way Jim Kasson advices to use manual focus in critical cases instead of AF. But I think, he does not  mean with a RF.