Classic M vs. M EV1 - Focus Accuracy & Speed

[CDodkin]

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On 11/4/2025 at 7:49 AM, Mahesh said:

I think the autozoom only works with the manual e mount lenses developed by Voigtlander such as 40/1.2. If you use an M mount lens, then you have to click a button you have added as a shortcut to zoom in - at least that's what I used to do with my A7ii and Zeiss sonnar 50/1.4

Autozoom works with the M mount Voigtlander lenses

[lct]

Autozoom is supposed to work with all RF-coupled M and adapted LTM lenses, i believe, but not with other mirrorless cameras, at least not with my Fuji, Sony and Sigma cameras that need a button or another control to trigger magnification. BTW i don't understand how a Nikon camera could do autozoom with an M lens it cannot follow the focus cam the same way as M cameras do. The last time i used a digital Nikon was about 20 years ago though. I coult not dream of using M lenses with my otherwise excellent D70 then. FWIW.

[charlesphoto99]

22 minutes ago, lct said:

Autozoom is supposed to work with all RF-coupled M and adapted LTM lenses, i believe, but not with other mirrorless cameras, at least not with my Fuji, Sony and Sigma cameras that need a button or another control to trigger magnification. BTW i don't understand how a Nikon camera could do autozoom with an M lens it cannot follow the focus cam the same way as M cameras do. The last time i used a digital Nikon was about 20 years ago though. I coult not dream of using M lenses with my otherwise excellent D70 then. FWIW.

The Zf uses subject detection off the sensor, so as long as one uses a smart adapter (i.e. like the TT Artisan M>Z) then the focus shows squares where the subject is, and the square turns green when the focus on the eye is locked. No auto magnification needed (though one can engage it with the press of a button), so no need to lose sight, even for a second, of the entire scene. Which is what many were hoping for with the MEV1, though somewhat unrealistic considering the timeframe of release and the need to do some heavy r&d while sidestepping Nikon patents. It also takes a different version of the sensor (and the Zf is only 24mmp). 

[BJohn]

Hm Autozoom works with the M-EV1? Where can I enable that? On the SL2s (with M lenses) it was kind of auto-enabled. When changing the focus it automatically gets zoomed in. I miss that on my EV1 so far.

[SrMi]

9 minutes ago, BJohn said:

Hm Autozoom works with the M-EV1? Where can I enable that? On the SL2s (with M lenses) it was kind of auto-enabled. When changing the focus it automatically gets zoomed in. I miss that on my EV1 so far.

There is no autozoom with M lenses on SL cameras. Autozoom works only with L lenses that communicate electronically with the body.

To enable autozoom on M cameras: Capture Assistants > Focus Aid > Automatic.

 

[BJohn]

25 minutes ago, SrMi said:

There is no autozoom with M lenses on SL cameras. Autozoom works only with L lenses that communicate electronically with the body.

To enable autozoom on M cameras: Capture Assistants > Focus Aid > Automatic.

 

Ah, then my brain tricked me. Wow, thanks for that! I was certain that it won't work on the EV1  

[mboerma]

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On my EV1 it was ‘on’ out of the box. I turned it off. I prefer to switch it on when I think I need it. 

[lct]

1 hour ago, charlesphoto99 said:

The Zf uses subject detection off the sensor [...]

Do you mean with M or LTM lenses?

[fleeja]

On 10/29/2025 at 6:11 PM, steve edmunds said:

you hit the nail on the head with this post , the challenge for Leica is to make the EVF as quick or even faster than the RF method,

Nikon has already achieved this and Leica could on the SL series now (or also on the M if they used the SL sensor) it uses the PDAF pixels when in manual mode and reads directly off the sensor when it’s in focus. I’ve used all of my Leica lenses this way with a chipped adapter on ZF and Z8 and it’s absolutely bang on, no need to magnify. Move the square around and it turns green when the sensor reads it’s in focus. Even better is if you turn on subject detection (I have this mapped to a custom button to turn it on and off) it will detect eyes and follow them and tell you the same thing. If you do want to magnify you press the button and it will automatically zoom into the eye or face (or whatever you have selected as subject detection - people, pets, birds, cars planes, or auto which works well) the leica method is archaic by comparison and I find the rangefinder much faster and easier. If the EV2 has this method I’ll buy it in an instant. 

[fleeja]

On 11/8/2025 at 10:29 AM, charlesphoto99 said:

The Zf uses subject detection off the sensor, so as long as one uses a smart adapter (i.e. like the TT Artisan M>Z) then the focus shows squares where the subject is, and the square turns green when the focus on the eye is locked. No auto magnification needed (though one can engage it with the press of a button), so no need to lose sight, even for a second, of the entire scene. Which is what many were hoping for with the MEV1, though somewhat unrealistic considering the timeframe of release and the need to do some heavy r&d while sidestepping Nikon patents. It also takes a different version of the sensor (and the Zf is only 24mmp). 

You can also use the megadap Z to E and then E to M dumb adapter and all the same detection will work. 

Z8 on Fw 3+ also has the manual focus assist tools with adapted lenses as long as the adapter is chipped. I’m using megadap and then dumb adapters - M42, Ai-S, Leica M, etc. it’s veryyyyy good. 

Edited November 15 by fleeja

[SrMi]

6 minutes ago, fleeja said:

Nikon has already achieved this and Leica could on the SL series now (or also on the M if they used the SL sensor) it uses the PDAF pixels when in manual mode and reads directly off the sensor when it’s in focus. I’ve used all of my Leica lenses this way with a chipped adapter on ZF and Z8 and it’s absolutely bang on, no need to magnify. Move the square around and it turns green when the sensor reads it’s in focus. Even better is if you turn on subject detection (I have this mapped to a custom button to turn it on and off) it will detect eyes and follow them and tell you the same thing. If you do want to magnify you press the button and it will automatically zoom into the eye or face (or whatever you have selected as subject detection - people, pets, birds, cars planes, or auto which works well) the leica method is archaic by comparison and I find the rangefinder much faster and easier. If the EV2 has this method I’ll buy it in an instant. 

Nikon's manual focusing has one problem that RF  doesn't: the focusing becomes vague once you stop down a lens without automatic aperture stop down.

I do not think you need OSPDAF to notice that subject is in focus. CDAF should be enough.

[fleeja]

30 minutes ago, SrMi said:

Nikon's manual focusing has one problem that RF  doesn't: the focusing becomes vague once you stop down a lens without automatic aperture stop down.

I do not think you need OSPDAF to notice that subject is in focus. CDAF should be enough.

No it doesn’t. Most mirrorless cameras focus at the working aperture already to avoid focus shift and show the realtime DOF. It’s using phase detect on the sensor (not contrast detect), the exact same system as it does when determining whether an AF lens is in focus. The only difference is you’re moving the lens vs the camera. It will have the same limitations as the AF system faces, so sure shooting at 5.6 or smaller in VERY low light it would probably not be great but I haven’t encountered that and it’s not a real world shooting situation anyways. Cameras that use the same sensor as the SL3 can focus down to like -6 to 7 EV without issue. Regardless the EV1 can never have this as the sensor they used doesn’t have any AF pixels

also you can’t do it with CDAF as from a stationary point cdaf cannot determine focus, it needs to rack beyond and then back, PDAF can determine the direction and in/out of focus from a resting position. So even if you were already “in focus” with cdaf you’d have to rack the lens back and forth again for the camera to know…this is iirc correctly from the DSLR days when we flipped into live view which was CDAF only

Edited November 15 by fleeja

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, fleeja said:

No it doesn’t. Most mirrorless cameras focus at the working aperture already to avoid focus shift and show the realtime DOF.

Few cameras do that. Nikons close at f/5.6 at most, but most focus wide open and close the aperture only when the shutter is pressed (in AF-S).

On my Zf with a CV lens stopped down, I can move the focusing ring quite a bit while it always stays green, even though there is only one infinitesimally thin plane where the focus is. Focusing a 35mm lens at f/11 is impossible using the green square (in good light). However, at f/2 it works very well.

1 hour ago, fleeja said:

t’s using phase detect on the sensor (not contrast detect), the exact same system as it does when determining whether an AF lens is in focus.

Most cameras use CDAF as the final phase to determine the precise focus in AF-S. PDAF is used to determine the direction of focus movement.

Since focus peaking shows whether something is in focus, I do not see why it could not be adapted into a square that changes color once enough contrast has been detected.

P.S.: Unlike Nikons, X2D cameras also show you in which direction to move the focus point, information available only with OSPDAF.

Edited November 16 by SrMi

[gbealnz]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I didn't know that. This is all X2D cameras? Or just the X2D2?

P.S.: Unlike Nikons, X2D cameras also show you in which direction to move the focus point, information available only with OSPDAF.

 

[SrMi]

25 minutes ago, gbealnz said:

I didn't know that. This is all X2D cameras? Or just the X2D2?

Both Mark 1 and 2. I still prefer manual focusing with magnification on X2Ds.

[gbealnz]

31 minutes ago, SrMi said:

Both Mark 1 and 2. I still prefer manual focusing with magnification on X2Ds.

Thank you, must have a look. I figured it was something that had appeared in the X2D2, as I hadn't seen it in my X2D.

[gbealnz]

6 hours ago, SrMi said:

Both Mark 1 and 2. I still prefer manual focusing with magnification on X2Ds.

Well I'll go "He", just checked and indeed it's there. I tend to agree with you though, magnification seems more accurate, having tried it (both).

Learn something new every day.

[steve edmunds]

16 hours ago, SrMi said:

Both Mark 1 and 2. I still prefer manual focusing with magnification on X2Ds.

does that include people photography and photographs of children ? [ my grandchildren] ,it just seems 2 stage and clunky to me.

[SrMi]

3 minutes ago, steve edmunds said:

does that include people photography and photographs of children ? [ my grandchildren] ,it just seems 2 stage and clunky to me.

I have not noticed any difference whether focusing on people or on trees. The arrow on the circle moves in many steps. However, if handheld, the focus may shift slightly as the camera is moved.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[budjames]

I played with the new EV1 in the Singapore Leica store. I had my M11 with me as this is my travel camera. I didn’t like the EVF. I’ll stick with the rangefinder. 
Cheers.

Bud James