close focussing the ultron 35mm asph vs. the Apo Summicron 35mm on the M11

[geesbert]

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As I am still waiting for my Apo Summicron to arrive I got myself a Voigtländer 35mm Ultron asph in the meantime. I am pleasantly astonished about this lens. My experience with Voigtländer so far was rather medoicre. What I really enjoy is the close focus ability to 58cm, which is so great, as my M11 sems to handle this distance with the rangefinder quite well. 

Now I wonder, how is your experience with the Apo Summicron below 0.7m?  I know that there is an indent at 0.7m to show that you enter unchartered areas, but then below 0.58, how does the rangefinder behave? before I had the Ultron I thought the indent was a great idea, but now I think it is a wea design, as I wouldn't know when I reach the limits of the rangefinder. 

I know live view is the way to go, but this for me is not, what the M is about....

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[hdmesa]

1 hour ago, geesbert said:

As I am still waiting for my Apo Summicron to arrive I got myself a Voigtländer 35mm Ultron asph in the meantime. I am pleasantly astonished about this lens. My experience with Voigtländer so far was rather medoicre. What I really enjoy is the close focus ability to 58cm, which is so great, as my M11 sems to handle this distance with the rangefinder quite well. 

Now I wonder, how is your experience with the Apo Summicron below 0.7m?  I know that there is an indent at 0.7m to show that you enter unchartered areas, but then below 0.58, how does the rangefinder behave? before I had the Ultron I thought the indent was a great idea, but now I think it is a wea design, as I wouldn't know when I reach the limits of the rangefinder. 

I know live view is the way to go, but this for me is not, what the M is about....

The rangefinder simply stops moving just below 0.7m. You have to use Live View below 0.7m with the 35 APO-M just like you do with the Voigtlander.

What I didn't like about the Leica APO was the incredibly long focus throw below 0.7m. From 0.7m to 0.3m is 204 degrees. To focus the lens below 0.7m requires adjusting your grip and not using the focus tab – the focus tab will be way up at the top of the lens where you can't reach it. The focusing ring does have a textured grip which you can use in place of the focus tab.

[geesbert]

The rangefinder of the M11 works just fine up to 0.58m. 

This is such a fantastic improvement over any 35mm lens I have ever used on a Leica M, it makes it a so much more versatile camera. 

[Greenhilltony]

9 hours ago, hdmesa said:

The rangefinder simply stops moving just below 0.7m. You have to use Live View below 0.7m with the 35 APO-M just like you do with the Voigtlander.

What I didn't like about the Leica APO was the incredibly long focus throw below 0.7m. From 0.7m to 0.3m is 204 degrees. To focus the lens below 0.7m requires adjusting your grip and not using the focus tab – the focus tab will be way up at the top of the lens where you can't reach it. The focusing ring does have a textured grip which you can use in place of the focus tab.

My M10-P couples until 0.6m, tested with the 35 Ultron too.

[geesbert]

does that mean that the lens cam of the summicron stops at 0.7 when you move to shorter distances? I read that this lens uses a new mechanism for focus coupling

[hdmesa]

6 hours ago, Greenhilltony said:

My M10-P couples until 0.6m, tested with the 35 Ultron too.

Yes, most all M lenses that focus below 0.7m will work with the rangefinder a bit closer than 0.7m. I'm not sure if parallax correction continues past 0.7m.

4 hours ago, geesbert said:

does that mean that the lens cam of the summicron stops at 0.7 when you move to shorter distances? I read that this lens uses a new mechanism for focus coupling

It seems to work like any other M lens regarding the rangefinder and will still work on the closer side of 0.7m for a bit, but once it hits the detent at 0.7m, you might as well switch to live view anyway so you can continue focusing closer if needed.

[geesbert]

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did anyone test how close the rangefinder works with the Apo? I presume it stops just below 0.6. 

[Robert Blanko]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb geesbert:

did anyone test how close the rangefinder works with the Apo? I presume it stops just below 0.6. 

I have just tested with the APO Summicron. The rangefinder decouples at 0.7 (or to be exact: maybe slightly below - about 0.68). Below, the rangefinder patch does not move anymore.

[geesbert]

thanks for that! what a shame though, as those additional 12cm on the voigtländer come in handy very often! Is Leica fearing lack of precision?

[Robert Blanko]

vor 25 Minuten schrieb geesbert:

thanks for that! what a shame though, as those additional 12cm on the voigtländer come in handy very often! Is Leica fearing lack of precision?

I have to correct myself after reading the thread title: I tested on a M10R, so on M11 might be different...