I purchased a used Minilux about a year ago and have been very disappointed with it. The autofocus does not focus clearly in dim conditions. I don't mean dark either, it will not even focus clearly in shade outside. Is this a problem that anyone else might be having? Can this be remedied by sending it back to Leica or is this a case of poor engineering? Please help!

Thanks Chris S. $500 crappy Minilux M6, that keeps on ticking!

-- Chris S. (shope31@bellsouth.net), December 08, 2001

Answers

It must be broken, mine has no problem focusing even in farily dim light.

-- Bill Macintire (wlmacintire@msn.com), December 08, 2001.

It occurred to me that one other possibility is that you might have the manual focus set to infinity or some other setting - sounds stupid, but it's an easy enough mistake to make, I've done it myself a few times. Since you bought it used, I'm not sure if you have a manual. If the little green light next to the viewfinder is flashing as you focus, this might be the problem.

-- Bill Macintire (wlmacintire@msn.com), December 08, 2001.

I've had my Minilux for several years. The autofocus has always worked perfectly, even in the dark. Your camera is probably misfocusing all the time, not just in dim light. The depth of field is probably compensating for the misfocus in bright light, since the lens is stopped down. In dim light, the aperture opens up and accurate focussing becomes more critical.

-- Richard Saylor (rlsaylor@ix.netcom.com), December 08, 2001.

Hi Chris, Try a fast (400 or 800) film. It' s possible the shutter speed is getting pretty slow according to the camera's program. Often slow shutter speed is blamed for fuzzy images. The new fast films are really amazing in their quality capabilities. You didn't mention what film you were using...I'd be curio

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

I had a minilux for 1 year and auto-focus worked well, even in pretty dark conditions. Are you sure you don't have any finger covering or half-covering the IR sensor?

-- Xavier (xcolmant@powerir.com), December 11, 2001.