Close up portrait with Leica M6 and 50mm lens

[George Stoichev]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi everyone,

I have Leica M6 and Summicron M (V) 50mm.

I see that in many of my close up portraits the focus is on the noose, but not on the eyes or oposite.I have focus on one spot of the face and another is missing.

I have checked my DOF calculator and I see that if the subject is at 1m from me and I got aperture 2, 2.8, 4 the focus is only in one spot 1m - 1m.If I switch to f/5.6 the focus depth becomes 0.9m -1.1m which is 20cm difference good enough to have all head in focus.

Please, share your experience on this matter.

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!

[Huss]

What do you want to be in focus?

[George Stoichev]

3 minutes ago, Huss said:

What do you want to be in focus?

The entire head

[Huss]

f5.6 or f8

I think that people have been too hung up shooting wide open, with only eye lashes in focus.  Actual portraits need more than that!

[Fotoklaus]

Remember that not everything inbetween those 20cm is perfectly sharp.

So i would consider f8 at close distance with focussing on the eyes. 

[spydrxx]

In my experience, close headshots, where you want everything in focus, are best shot at f/8 but from more like about 5 ft than MFD. That is the approximate distance used for ID photo headshots with everything in focus, like drivers licenses and ID cards.

[Lelmer]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I agree with Fotoklaus.

And also remember that the focus area is not equally spread around the focus point. It is roughly 1/3 in the front and 2/3 in the back

[Jewl]

but couldn't it be that there is a front focus issue with the lens/body? if you cannot focus the eyes when the focus patch shows it in focus... 

I agree with the others, if you want to have the head in focus and not only parts of the face, then you need to close down the aperture or move away 😉

[George Stoichev]

I have to forget than for Kodak Ektar for indoor shooting w/out flash

I like ISO100 films, but in order to have f/8 I need Portra 800 at least

[otto.f]

On 8/8/2023 at 7:24 PM, George Stoichev said:

20cm difference good enough to have all head in focus

I like the ears to be OOF. When focusing on the eye, it means mostly f 3.5. A portrait at F8.0 is not my cup of tea. Actually you ask for very personal opinions and if not, it starts with what you want to convey

Edited August 9, 2023 by otto.f

[M10R]

This may be because you moved your head a bit back or forth during pressing the shutter. It does happen always.

[George Stoichev]

No I don’t

[otto.f]

8 hours ago, George Stoichev said:

No I don’t

Did you check the rangefinder of your M6 for back or front focus?

Edited August 10, 2023 by otto.f

[Helge]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb George Stoichev:

I have to forget than for Kodak Ektar for indoor shooting w/out flash

I like ISO100 films, but in order to have f/8 I need Portra 800 at least

Shooting portraits indoors would anyway be pretty bold with just 100 ASA.

You get usually something between 50 lx and 500 lx for illuminance indoors without additional lighting. This ends up in EVs between approximately 5 and 8 for 100 ASA, which would be between 1/8 and 1/60 for F2.0 (or between 1/4 and 1/30 for F8.0 and 800 ASA, since you gain 3 EVs).

You may consider to either utilize additional lighting (lamps or photoflash), shoot outdoors or using B/W with 3200 ASA.

[Helge]

Am 8.8.2023 um 19:24 schrieb George Stoichev:

Hi everyone,

I have Leica M6 and Summicron M (V) 50mm.

I see that in many of my close up portraits the focus is on the noose, but not on the eyes or oposite.I have focus on one spot of the face and another is missing.

…

Where/what do you usually focus on?

I usually focus on the eyes themselves, since this is the most important area people look at first in a picture.

[a.noctilux]

15 minutes ago, Helge said:

Where/what do you usually focus on?

I usually focus on the eyes themselves, since this is the most important area people look at first in a picture.

Of course  this is very important,

if everything is fine like focus shift when we shift after focussing to have right framing, etc.

The only way to be certain is to practice a lot with same combo, same settings then decide by results.

 

Sadly, we don't have magic way to obtain what we want other than practicing.

Good news, Leica M (magical system needing to be known how things work) can help a lot, more than other system (mirrorless or SLR, etc.).

[Helge]

vor 9 Minuten schrieb a.noctilux:

Of course  this is very important,

if everything is fine like focus shift when we shift after focussing to have right framing, etc.

The only way to be certain is to practice a lot with same combo, same settings then decide by results.

…

Absolutely!

(luckily I started using Leica M with the M10, so practicing was relatively easy …😉 and continued 2 years ago with the MP)

[a.noctilux]

8 hours ago, Helge said:

Absolutely!

(luckily I started using Leica M with the M10, so practicing was relatively easy …😉 and continued 2 years ago with the MP)

How about George the OP ?

Practice or not ?

 

[Helge]

vor 30 Minuten schrieb a.noctilux:

How about George the OP ?

Practice or not ?

 

Absolutely!

vor 8 Stunden schrieb Helge:

Absolutely!

(luckily I started using Leica M with the M10, so practicing was relatively easy …😉 and continued 2 years ago with the MP)

 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[250swb]

The OP could take a step or two back so the DOF isn't as critical and crop to the final composition.