New M (typ 240) User - Looking for help/suggestion

[kssharma]

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Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a new to me M 240 and a Nokton 40 1.2 lens. I am having some issues with focusing when shooting wide open with the lens (with rangefinder). The camera/lens combo works fine when I use live view to focus and also works fine when I step it down to 2.8 (with view finder). The lens has minimum focus distance of .5 but all of the images shot with .7 distance set on the lens.

Attached are some images I took with the camera.

I am trying to understand what I am doing wrong or something wrong with the lens or perhaps the camera.

Would appreciate any help/pointers.

Shot wide open with focusing using rangefinder (focus patch on the "Olympus") .

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Shot wide open with live view

Shot at f2.8 with focusing using rangefinder (focus patch on the "Olympus")

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by kssharma

[a.noctilux]

Welcome,

I think that you have read the M240 manual.

RF coupling is on any Leica modern M (with RF) is to 70cm by construction.

With some lenses which can focus closer, usable only with liveview/EVF.

...

What Leica M is strong is to be used at medium distance and far, SLR/mirrorless are more efficient for close focus use.

Take note that many users took time for RF calibration of lenses with liveview/EVF.

[pippy]

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.

There seems to be some calibration mis-match between camera and body when using the optical rangefinder. It's impossible for us to say with certainty whether the issue lies with the body or the lens.

Also - and please don't take this the wrong way! - how experienced are you with focussing a rangefinder camera? Are you confident that your focussing-skills are capable of nailing a subject 0.7m distant at f1.2 solely using an optical r/f patch? Depth-of-field in that situation will be paper-thin...

If you have access to another M-mount lens - the faster the better for your purposes - which you know to focus accurately at minimum focus wide-open try it on the M 240 and see how you get on. If not then you might have to make a trip in to a dealership to resolve the situation.

Good luck!

Philip.

[kssharma]

1 hour ago, a.noctilux said:

Welcome,

I think that you have read the M240 manual.

RF coupling is on any Leica modern M (with RF) is to 70cm by construction.

With some lenses which can focus closer, usable only with liveview/EVF.

...

What Leica M is strong is to be used at medium distance and far, SLR/mirrorless are more efficient for close focus use.

Take note that many users took time for RF calibration of lenses with liveview/EVF.

Thank you!

Yes, I am aware of the fact that RF coupling is 70cm and I have set distance on the lens to .7 for that reason only. I then move back and forth to match the patch. I am totally new to the RF and might need some practice on it. But I was curious as the live view images are coming sharp (wide open at 1.2) and the image taken around 2.8 with RF are also sharp but RF images taken wide open aren't. I'll do some more test today and perhaps need more practice.

Appreciate you inputs 🙏

[kssharma]

1 hour ago, pippy said:

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.

There seems to be some calibration mis-match between camera and body when using the optical rangefinder. It's impossible for us to say with certainty whether the issue lies with the body or the lens.

Also - and please don't take this the wrong way! - how experienced are you with focussing a rangefinder camera? Are you confident that your focussing-skills are capable of nailing a subject 0.7m distant at f1.2 solely using an optical r/f patch? Depth-of-field in that situation will be paper-thin...

If you have access to another M-mount lens - the faster the better for your purposes - which you know to focus accurately at minimum focus wide-open try it on the M 240 and see how you get on. If not then you might have to make a trip in to a dealership to resolve the situation.

Good luck!

Philip.

Thank you, Philip.

I must say I am a new RF user and still learning but as I explained in the earlier post I was confused that live view is giving sharp results wide open at MFD but RF focusing doesn't. For me RF focusing look natural and I seems get use to it but I'll keep practicing to make sure it is not me.

Unfortunately, I only have one lens at the moment with me. I am trying to get hold of another to make sure it is not the lens. 

Thanks for the pointers 🙏. I hope it is the lens only as the seller told me the RF was perfectly calibrated with his Leica 35/50/75 lenses.

[a.noctilux]

I don't know your Nokton 1.2/40mm.

RF/LV/focus shift ?

Maybe you are pointing at focus shift which some lenses can be used only with EVF/LV.

this is with 1.4/40 discussions :

 

 

[kssharma]

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4 minutes ago, a.noctilux said:

I don't know your Nokton 1.2/40mm.

RF/LV/focus shift ?

Maybe you are pointing at focus shift which some lenses can be used only with EVF/LV.

this is with 1.4/40 discussions :

 

 

Interesting. I am so new to all this stuff :D. Will surly go through this. Thanks for the help again!

[a.noctilux]

As I wrote so often, testing is good to know the gear, but the best way is to practice real life photography,

then if the real life pics are not up to expectation, make some testings.

Not the other way around, waste of time.

[kssharma]

20 minutes ago, a.noctilux said:

As I wrote so often, testing is good to know the gear, but the best way is to practice real life photography,

then if the real life pics are not up to expectation, make some testings.

Not the other way around, waste of time.

Right, I started testing only once I found my real life images weren't sharp at 1.2

[kssharma]

Some updates. The issue was with the RF calibration. I did some small adjustments and now camera is nailing focus when RF patch aligned. Some images after the calibration.

 

 

 

 

 

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[pippy]

18 hours ago, kssharma said:

Some updates. The issue was with the RF calibration. I did some small adjustments and now camera is nailing focus when RF patch aligned...

Thanks for the update and glad to read that the issue has been resolved. I wish you Happy Shooting!

P.