Focus is perfect but angle/view is slight off after taking photo?

[maidenfan84]

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Going through the newly arrived camera and focus on whatever I am focusing on is absolutely spot on, but the further out I focus, the more the photo is off center or shifts. Any ideas what could be causing this or how to address it? The focus is always perfect it’s just the photo somehow shifts to the right. Thanks, in advance for any insight on this

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[jaapv]

As the viewfinder is above and to the left of the lens, there will be a parallax difference. The camera compensates by shifting the framelines  when focusing but this can only be precise in the plane of focus. Before and behind that plane the perspective will show perspective parallax error. This can even hide or reveal objects that you saw or could not see in the viewfinder.

If you draw a diagram it will be clear.

[a.noctilux]

On 12/2/2023 at 1:07 AM, maidenfan84 said:

it’s just the photo somehow shifts to the right

If your M camera have liveview, just use it for more precise framing.

Leica M is not SLR or mirrorless T.T.L. (through the lens).

[maidenfan84]

Thank you for the replies! Is this common to all M cameras and rangefinders in general, or just the m240? I shot with a borrowed M10 long ago and I don’t remember there being this shift in what I see in the window compared to what I get in the actual photo. Some of the pics in the m240 I’m seeing clear down the road through the window in between the blinds, then the picture that results is a window blind blocking any view of down the road. 

[Luke_Miller]

All Leica modern rangefinders adjust for parallax. If you look through the viewfinder and adjust lens focus from infinity to minimum focus distance you will see the framelines move down and towards the right.

 

Edited to add:

The vertical distance between the lens and the viewfinder will make shooting through window blinds difficult if using the rangefinder.  Using Live view or the EVF is the only reliable method.

Edited January 5, 2024 by Luke_Miller

[pgk]

16 hours ago, maidenfan84 said:

Is this common to all M cameras and rangefinders in general ..... ?

M cameras have two factors to deal with through the viewfinder The first is parallax which jaapv has expained and the second is magnification which is the shift in image framing due to magnification as you focus closer. Whilst not very significant this cannot be dealt with in the viewfinder. The combination result in the viewfinder showing an approximation of the content of the photograph being taken.

Different M cameras have had differing viewfinder magnifications too, which might make the viefinder image easier of trickier to approximate depending on lens.

After enough use of M cameras it is something which you get used to and whilst never quite as accurate as the precision framing of dSLR or EVF cameras, it is quite acceptable. I don't crop my M images for composition usually, although I do adjust for cant (I have about a 1.5 degree natural shift from level).

Other rangefinders can differ with the worst case being no adjustments in the viewfinder.

One thing to be aware of is when looking through fences or anything which can get in the way of the lens or viewfinder. You have to remember to make sure both are unobstructed!

[Jean-Michel]

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A rangefinder viewer is nothing but a window, with, typically, a negative magnification such as .93 for an M3, or .72 for most other M's. The focal length of the lens you attach make no difference to the view, all you get are frame limes indicating, more or less, the area of the view that reaches the film or sensor. On Leica M's the frame lines move to show the actual edges of the view at the focussed distance. The Leica manuals show that the actual edge is on this or that side of the frame line depending on the distance. The viewfinder and the lens can be compared to our eyes: the view from the right eye differs from the view from the left eye, plus the camera's 'eyes' are not only separated horizontally but also vertically. It is physically impossible to line up close and far objects in the viewfinder. Early SLR ads made much of the ability to lineup objects in the SLR finder: ads showing a lighthouse supported by a hand and such were common. 

The shift in level has nothing to do with the camera, it happens because you tilt the camera in the direction of your finger pushing down the shutter release — doesn't take much movement for this to happen. Try putting the camera on a tripod and use a cable release and you will see that the level just doesn't move.