Leica M-A rangefinder alignment questions

[Landiah]

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After much deliberate contemplation of which cameras and lenses to bring on a month long Costa Rica trip, I decided to stick with a minimalist philosophy and bring my M-A body with a single and lonely, 35mm ASPH cron (which had just come back from Leica repairs for having an aperture ring which just fell off one day). 
To my dismay, a few days into the trip I realised that the horizontal alignment of the rangefinder patch would not align with infinity - distant objects would still be a bit to the right, when the lens is at infinity. 
Now I’m wondering if it could be something with the lens or if it is a problem with the body’s rangefinder mechanism and if there is a way to find out. If it is most likely the body, is a fix to this by myself a bit ambitious? 
Finally, given the rangefinder is out of alignment, would the zone focusing method still be a reliable way of shooting with this combination?

[a.noctilux]

With film, I think the rangefinder alignment thing is not really ennoying.

I use film M for decades without hearing of the rangefinder alignment.

This is from digital age, my first needing for the "alignment" for me was with M8, 2007-8 when I travelled on motorbike "flat-twin", lot of vibrations.

 

Can you describe the "level" of non-alignment at infinity, comparing to the deep of field scale of your lens in use ?

 

To be more positive:

- depending on the level of discrepency, in results, you would not see in prints the non-alignment

- just take some pics at different distances near or wide open with your favorite film, then judge by results

- the tolerance is happily wider with film if we use 400ISO or more

- use the nice dof as sort of guiding for "tolerance wise", or close more the lens to gain dof

Arnaud

 

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[Casey Jefferson]

Means the patch go past infinity when the lens finally reach infinity? My M240 does the same, same lens. I shot a few distance objects, doesn't seem to affect the sharpness be it aligned slightly before infinity or right at infinity. If it doesn't make visible difference on 24mp digital sensor, it probably won't matter on film anyway.

[Landiah]

13 minutes ago, Casey Jefferson said:

Means the patch go past infinity when the lens finally reach infinity? My M240 does the same, same lens. I shot a few distance objects, doesn't seem to affect the sharpness be it aligned slightly before infinity or right at infinity. If it doesn't make visible difference on 24mp digital sensor, it probably won't matter on film anyway.

The patch does not seem to reach infinity, which I have never experienced before on the camera or this lens (which I have primarily shot with an MP). 

[Landiah]

24 minutes ago, a.noctilux said:

With film, I think the rangefinder alignment thing is not really ennoying.

I use film M for decades without hearing of the rangefinder alignment.

This is from digital age, my first needing for the "alignment" for me was with M8, 2007-8 when I travelled on motorbike "flat-twin", lot of vibrations.

 

Can you describe the "level" of non-alignment at infinity, comparing to the deep of field scale of your lens in use ?

 

To be more positive:

- depending on the level of discrepency, in results, you would not see in prints the non-alignment

- just take some pics at different distances near or wide open with your favorite film, then judge by results

- the tolerance is happily wider with film if we use 400ISO or more

- use the nice dof as sort of guiding for "tolerance wise", or close more the lens to gain dof

Arnaud

 

Unfortunately I do not have a way to get the film developed to check. I’m hoping to find a workaround or way to continue to take photos knowing that I can use zone focusing or having to rely solely on a wide dof. My confusion is that the patch does not reach infinity, which I have never experienced before. 

[a.noctilux]

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

We see here two lines for f:2 dof, if your lens + M-A focus within the dof tolerance, don't bother.

Turn the focus ring to align the right "line" with infinity "center", see if the alignment patch doubles it's size in "discrepency" or not.

[Landiah]

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3 minutes ago, a.noctilux said:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

We see here two lines for f:2 dof, if your lens + M-A focus within the dof tolerance, don't bother.

Turn the focus ring to align the right "line" with infinity "center", see if the alignment patch doubles it's size in "discrepency" or not.

The patch does double in “discrepancy” when aligned with the right line. 

[a.noctilux]

Too bad, you may use your lens from f:2.8 onward then, while waiting services.

For me the tolerance is on the borderline, your lens (even newly serviced) or M-A or both may need adjustments.

Not DIY which can be worse.

Edited April 11, 2021 by a.noctilux

[Casey Jefferson]

1 hour ago, Landiah said:

The patch does not seem to reach infinity, which I have never experienced before on the camera or this lens (which I have primarily shot with an MP). 

Not sure what's the problem then, if the lens is the only one went for repair, I would address that first, I think.

There's a trick where you open up the back over, put on a tape where the film plane is, you can see the reversed image projected on the tape and with loupe you can probably tell if there's any problem with the focus.

[Landiah]

UPDATE:

 

I got home today and was able to do some testing. The 35 cron focuses fine to infinity on my MP - as do all of my other lenses.

Tested a 50 cron on the M-A, that one does not line up to infinity much as the 35. 

Then I proceeded to check a 28 lux as well as a 50 apo and those are fine as they are on the MP.

Any idea what could be causing this?

[a.noctilux]

Thanks for your update.

So with every lens you have, the focus on M-A is not right to infinity ?

Mounting those lenses on your MP, those lenses focus are fine ?

[Landiah]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:12 AM, a.noctilux said:

Thanks for your update.

So with every lens you have, the focus on M-A is not right to infinity ?

Mounting those lenses on your MP, those lenses focus are fine ?

Just with two out of my five lenses. And all five focus fine at infinity on my MP.

[jaapv]

There is a good reason that Leica service and repair shops prefer a whole system to be sent in for calibration instead of single components. 

[Guest JMF]

40 minutes ago, Landiah said:

Just with two out of my five lenses. And all five focus fine at infinity on my MP.

Then your M-A needs to be adjusted.

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by JMF

[a.noctilux]

6 hours ago, Landiah said:

Just with two out of my five lenses. And all five focus fine at infinity on my MP.

the two lenses may be out of tolerance ?

In your place, I'd send to Leica your M-A and the two lenses which don't focus well.

[jaapv]

If you do that you risk that the other lenses will be out of adjustment. Everything must be adjusted to the common standard and in a situation like this, it is impossible to tell which system components are the culprit. Send the complete system in.