My question is about how accurate the M6 should focus. Every time I take a shot close-up with my M6 and 50 mm 1.4, or 35 mm 1.4 I do get shots out of focus when the distance is within 1 meter/1,5 meter. After that everything is sharp so I suppose the focussing works okay, except for short distances. Can anyone tell me if it's a common problem (shortcoming of the rangefinder system) or should/can I get it fixed? Perhaps is accuracy when foccusing after 1 or 1,5 meters no so important anymore because of depth of field? All testing is of course done on a tripod and with appperture wide open! Thanks!

-- Sjoerd van der Wal (s.van.der.wal@hccnet.nl), October 13, 2001

Answers

Look at the scale, minimum focus distance on those lenses is about 24-27 inches. Closer focusing must be done with depth of field. I have focused as close a 8 inches with my 28mm cron at f11.

-- Matt Rainey (mvrainey@att.net), October 13, 2001.

The focusing is much more critical at the close range. I have had good luck at f2.0 with my M3 at minimum focus, but it has a slighly larger effective rangefinder base than the M6. Depth of field at minimum focus and f1.4 isn't even an inch. We also talked here once about the problem of focusing with the center patch on the subject, and then recomposing, which throws the plane of focus off just enough that you can miss the focus by a few inches. Your camera could also be very slightly out of calibration, and the close focus at wide aperture is where it would show up.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 13, 2001.

Either your technique is at fault of your camera needs adjustment. I had no problems focusing 50/1.5 Nokton on Bessa-R with significantly shorter RF base at f/1.5 at min. focusing distance.

And yes, focusing errors are the less noticeable the farther your object is -- because of greater DOF.

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), October 13, 2001.

I agree with Alexander and suspect your camera is out of adjustment. With my .72 M6 and my Noctilux at f1.0, I could focus accuratly and with regularity to within a few centimeters on subjects at just over 1 meter.

You can easily test your rf for accuracy by focusing on a 1 meter ruler. Place the ruler at a 45* angle vertically so the 50 cm mark is exactly 1M away from the film plane of the camera, focus your lens on that mark and check the readout on the lens. If it is not also 1 m, then your rf system is off. By turning your lens to the 1 M point and seeing where the focus actually falls on the ruler, you can tell how much and which direction your rf is off. You can similarly test infinity focus by focusing on something a 3+ kilometers away and seeing if the lens lines up on its infinity mark.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), October 13, 2001.

pretty stupid I sound in your other same question...donīt I?

...should I had answered here...

would that help?

Merry Christmas to all!!!

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

A properly working Leica M6 should have a focussing accuracy of 1 inch or less at a distance of ten feet. It is more than sufficiently accurate for the 50/1.4 or 35/1.4 at any distance. In fact for those lenses, the Leica M should focus more accurately than an SLR.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), October 14, 2001.