Classic M vs. M EV1 - Focus Accuracy & Speed

[mboerma]

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And they both, SL3x and Q3x, have the Maestro IV processor. That might be a factor too. 

[TheEyesHaveIt]

3 hours ago, lct said:

Sony user here. You cannot do autozoom with a Sony. You have to press a button to bring up the magnified view. Same with any other mirrorless camera but the MEV1. The M11 with Visoflex2 has autozoom too but is it a mirrorless camera? The question is open 😉

 

Which lens are you talking about here for Sony? Sony definitely does have autozoom - it's called Auto Magnifier in MF. Works just the same on my A7CR as the MEV1.

[paulcurtis]

1 hour ago, lct said:

Do you mean with M or LTM lenses? Just curious.

All manual lenses. Most of my collection are manual, usual cine based or anamorphic. I do love the M lenses for their size though

[mboerma]

What I often see is far regular rangefinder M users use the rear LCD for composing ánd focusing. So many are already used to focusing using other means than the rangefinder. Often because of similar reasons why people now like the EV1. It think the EVF is a more accurate focusing means than the rear LCD. 

[lct]

27 minutes ago, TheEyesHaveIt said:

Which lens are you talking about here for Sony? Sony definitely does have autozoom - it's called Auto Magnifier in MF. Works just the same on my A7CR as the MEV1.

M and LTM lenses. No autozoom with them on Sony cameras AFAIK, on my old Kolari mod a7r2 at least. Do you mean the A7CR can do i with M lenses? When i had Nikon cameras in the past they could do it with Nikon lenses but i have no experience of them with M or LTM lenses either.

[lct]

24 minutes ago, paulcurtis said:

All manual lenses. Most of my collection are manual, usual cine based or anamorphic. I do love the M lenses for their size though

You mean your Sony camera has autozoom capabilities with M and LTM lenses? Sorry to ask again but none of my Kolari mod a7s and a7r2 had that. Curious how this works with (or without?) an adapter that does not allow for mechanical communication between the body and the focus cam of Leica lenses. Thank you for enlighting me 😎

[SrMi]

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43 minutes ago, TheEyesHaveIt said:

Which lens are you talking about here for Sony? Sony definitely does have autozoom - it's called Auto Magnifier in MF. Works just the same on my A7CR as the MEV1.

Only M cameras have a way (mechanical) to detect focus movement of M lenses and thus can engage autozoom with M lenses.

[jaapv]

On 11/1/2025 at 8:53 PM, SrMi said:

I do not think focus peaking can accurately show you DOF. What CoC is focus peaking using?

Not accurately - but if you "walk" focus peaking through your scene you get a pretty good idea of the distribution of the DOF. Focus peaking is a focus aid, nothing more, and like any aid, the use needs to be learned, it cannot take over from the photographer's mind. 

[costa43]

No doubt in some scenarios an evf will trump the rangefinder but I use the rangefinder because I enjoy the experience, not because it is always the quickest way to achieve focus. I’m not dropping 10 grand on a camera just to nail manual focus as quickly as possible. 

[BJohn]

4 hours ago, mboerma said:

And they both, SL3x and Q3x, have the Maestro IV processor. That might be a factor too. 

I think they missed an opportunity here. Maybe the crowd was too loud to request an M-EVF (I belong to that crowd as well) and time (design, production, new sensor, fitting, etc.) was against Leica. Looking forward to the next generation but currently happy with my M-EV1.

I read quite a few comments and many miss the actual essence of that camera. I have used but not bought the SLx yet. The Visoflex was suboptimal for me; I mainly use the thumb grip and dislike the esthetics. The puristic and small appearance of the RF and the manual feeling combined with the image quality are the reasons I bought into Leica.

Now I can enjoy that with an EVF and don't have to buy an SLx. The M-EV1 is smaller, same battery as my M11P, same thumb grip, same feeling (if we exclude the RF 😏).

Although they missed an opportunity here, still happy with the new thing and to use Joel Meyerowitz's words: "you belong here".

PS: Looking forward to firmware upgrades  

Edited November 3 by BJohn

[mboerma]

Agree @BJohn. I use SLx cameras for my M lenses and have an M11-D for the "real Leica rangefinder experience" 😉 without cheating possibilities. But as a possible replacement for the SL experience I got the EV1. 

The choice for a Maestro III processor might related to firmware efforts/time, cost, heat (?) or just marketing and possible upgrade sales for M12x and future derivatives. I'm sure the UI of the M12 will look more like the SL3 UI. This is a lot of work which needs to be done. And since Leica has a lot of work to do to get the M11 firmware stable, there was no time to work on this yet for the M.

[Robert Blanko]

On Sunday I played a little bit with the M11P and Visoflex 2 to get an idea of focus peaking vs rangefinder. Focusing on a book title in my bookshelf with my 35 Summilux at about 3m distance revealed the impression that the patch was significantly misaligned before the misalignment was also reflected in focus peaking, even with magnification turned on.

To those who have both: Does the higher resolution of the EV1 insofar lead to a significant improvement?

 

 

 

[Jean-Michel]

With my caveat: I do not have, or even seen, an M-EV1. I have used M cameras — film and digital since 1968, and now also own an SL2.

Re the thumb grip: I use a Thumbie, it leaves the accessory shoe available for an EVF or vower or flash...

I have an M-P(240) and have the EVF-2 for it. If I have a 35 or 50 on the camera, I do not mount the EVF-2; I would find no use for it. I happen to believe that a 35 or 50 mm lens is the natural lens for an M, with all others be for occasional use only. In addition the 35 and 50 (Summicrons) I have a Tri-Elmar (WATE), a 90 Macro-Elmar and a 135 Elmarit. I use the EVF-2 for the Tri-Elmar for viewing the image, any required focusing is done with the rangefinder. For the 90 and 135 the EVF-2 is quite useful to confirm focus; I also have some old Canon FD lenses that I have mounted on the M (with a Fotodiox adapter) for some interesting imaging, especially with a 70-210 zoom, the EVF-2 is essential for those.

I find the auto zoom with M lenses to be annoying, so I have that enabled via the front button — I have glued a bumper on it to help push it when needed.

I am certain that the finder of the M-EV1 is as good as can be. And focusing with it, with a lens at its widest aperture, is similar to that of any SLR or dSLR, or mirrorless camera. With the lens wide open you have the best chance to focus on what you want, but with the lens closed to a smaller aperture the focus plane becomes a bit of a guess  you still might get close to what you want anyway. With a Tri-Elmar wide open and see at around 1 meter, the image will pretty much be all in focus, even if you zoom it. With my M-P, if I want to set the focus on a particular point, I use the rangefinder. For the 90 and 135, I still prefer to focus with the rangefinder but do find that viewing and confirming focus in the EVF-2 to be quite useful — with both lenses, the dof is of course shallower and that allows for a less inaccurate focus plane guess; I imagine that this would be similar with the M-EV1.

What I really do like with the EVF-2 is the ability to flip it up. Most of my Tri-Elmar images are made with the finder is a vertical position.

I have read some of the beta users notes, including Jono Slack's. All seem to have been able to get good results with the M-EV1. 

[lct]

16 minutes ago, Robert Blanko said:

[...] Focusing on a book title in my bookshelf with my 35 Summilux at about 3m distance revealed the impression that the patch was significantly misaligned before the misalignment was also reflected in focus peaking, even with magnification turned on.
To those who have both: Does the higher resolution of the EV1 insofar lead to a significant improvement?

Not sure to understand what you mean by misalignment of the patch but i don't recall having noticed any misalignment with either M11 or MEV1 so far.

[Robert Blanko]

vor 1 Minute schrieb lct:

Not sure to understand what you mean by misalignment of the patch but i don't recall having noticed any misalignment with either M11 or MEV1 so far.

Well, I meant the misalignment of the two images in the rangefinder patch. 
Perfectly focused means perfect alignment of the two images whereas defocusing means misaligned images.

[lct]

10 minutes ago, Robert Blanko said:

Well, I meant the misalignment of the two images in the rangefinder patch. 
Perfectly focused means perfect alignment of the two images whereas defocusing means misaligned images.

OK but if the RF patch is misaligned, it means that the title of the book is not in focus, at least assuming that the RF is well calibrated. Do you mean the title looks sharp in the EVF without moving the camera? If so, i would question the RF calibration instead of the EVF personally. But i'm not sure to answer your question...

Edited November 3 by lct

[Elliot Harper]

On 10/26/2025 at 10:50 AM, Smogg said:

Giving up the rangefinder is the first step towards the rubber woman😂

I would rather use my hands 

[Jean-Michel]

3 hours ago, Robert Blanko said:

Well, I meant the misalignment of the two images in the rangefinder patch. 
Perfectly focused means perfect alignment of the two images whereas defocusing means misaligned images.

For anyone interested in doing that check:

Use a tripod. Open your lens to its maximum opening. Focus on something easy to focus on, such as text or bar code, etc. using the rangefinder. Switch to LV or the EVF and see if the  focus aid outline shows that the focus is correct. Move your focusing ring and see if the online disappears as you lose focus. Likely, the outline will quickly disappear.

Repeat with your lens closed down to, say, f/8 or f/11. Likely, you will find that the online stay on as you move your focusing ring one way or the other.

Repeat, this time only using the LV or EVF. Focus with the lens closed down to f/8 or f/11. The outline will show that you are in focus, now slowly open up your lens toward wide open, at some point you may find that the outline disappears and the image is actually on the soft or unfocussed side. 

[Mahesh]

22 hours ago, lct said:

You mean your Sony camera has autozoom capabilities with M and LTM lenses? Sorry to ask again but none of my Kolari mod a7s and a7r2 had that. Curious how this works with (or without?) an adapter that does not allow for mechanical communication between the body and the focus cam of Leica lenses. Thank you for enlighting me 😎

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

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[jaapv]

There are no electrical contacts in M mount lenses, nor in an M mount, so things like Autozoom can only be implemented through a mechanical connection. The lens needs a helicoid and the camera needs a roller cam.