The overshooting problem when manual focusing SL native lenses

[antialiasing]

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I have found that manually focusing SL native lenses (I have the 24-90, 90-280, and the Summilux 50) on the SL2 to be much harder than focusing an adapted manual-focus lens (in my the Nikon and Zeiss ZF manual lenses). I understand that the SL lenses are focus-by-wire, and there is an adaptive behavior so that the turning of the focus ring does not linearly correspond to the moving of the focus. Rather, the mapping from turning motions to focus change is nonlinear depending on gusto of the operator. That sounds fine, except that I consistently overshoot when trying to focus manually the 3 lenses mentioned above. It is really frustrating and really makes manual focus override kind of unusable. This is something I never experienced with adapted mechanical lenses -- that was easy and enjoyable. Would love to hear other people's experiences in this regard. Thanks. 

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[hoolyproductions]

You can set the SL lens focus to linear if you wish, with a range of options on how many degrees from shortest distance to infinity, worth a try. I have mine set up like that.

[michali]

54 minutes ago, antialiasing said:

I have found that manually focusing SL native lenses (I have the 24-90, 90-280, and the Summilux 50) on the SL2 to be much harder than focusing an adapted manual-focus lens (in my the Nikon and Zeiss ZF manual lenses). I understand that the SL lenses are focus-by-wire, and there is an adaptive behavior so that the turning of the focus ring does not linearly correspond to the moving of the focus. Rather, the mapping from turning motions to focus change is nonlinear depending on gusto of the operator. That sounds fine, except that I consistently overshoot when trying to focus manually the 3 lenses mentioned above. It is really frustrating and really makes manual focus override kind of unusable. This is something I never experienced with adapted mechanical lenses -- that was easy and enjoyable. Would love to hear other people's experiences in this regard. Thanks. 

I agree with you, it can be extremely frustrating when trying to manually focus these AF lenses. Even when they're set to linear, the major difference in my view is that with MF lenses when you get to infinity the ring stops turning. With AF lenses in manual mode the focusing ring just keeps turning & easy to overshoot the focus as you say. 

You also have the distance scale on MF lenses to refer to, which gives you a very good feel/idea of where you are.

[bandrews]

Is there a reason Leica can’t add a focus scale to the EVF/Screen like Fuji does?

[hoolyproductions]

You do get the focal range on the top display (when using manual mode and BBF focus), I think it's great!

[Eclectic Man]

In previous version of the software you had to remove the lens to select the manual focus mode.  But I just checked and my SL2 with the latest firmware I can now select the linear focus mode (there is 'Standard', which is non-linear) to whichever amount of rotation I want.  First Menu list, Focusing, MF Setup .

[Anakronox]

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I personally cannot stand manual focus-by-wire and have tried on 3 systems : Nikon Z, Fuji GFX, and Leica SL/2.  Call me a purist, snob, whatever you’d like - it just doesn’t feel right compared to actual manual glass.  I’ve tried out the different acceleration options but just couldn’t get along with them.  I’d much rather pop on an M lens with a proper scale.  For the native SL lenses I just use autofocus. 

[antialiasing]

Thank you very much guys I did not know that there is such a setting! I played with it, and 360 degrees works pretty well (fine enough) with the summilux. The feeling of "controlling an iron ball with a rubber band" is gone. Since the use of MF on an AF lens is to fine tune and override, i.e. the adjustments are usually small, the speed does not really matter that much.