Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The numbers - ---------------- As a preliminary manner, Erwin's calculations (if you believe them) show that a 0.6 RF is perfectly suitable for any of the lenses listed below. As a practical matter, I have used a 50/1.2, an 85/2 and a 135/3.5 close up and wide open, and they work. I'll take it on faith that the 75/1.4 works too. I think Dan Honemman found that it did. The phantom problem - -------------------------- This RF thing is something of myth. A few people bitch, a lot of people repeat. I think I addressed this here, but I have had two Hexar RF bodies, one early and one later in production. The first one looked like it focused past infinity, but in reality it didn't. The second one doesn't look like it focuses past infinity. A lot of it is psychosomatic. Even assuming that the RF went past infinity, it would have you focusing just in front of the subject. This is not all bad, since it maximizes depth of field (no one cares about what is behind or inside the subject), and since focusing behind is disastrous. Maybe it's a step designed to enhance DOF with lenses that would be iffy to focus otherwise. We'll never know the answer. The Hexar mythos - ---------------------- Konica is inscrutable. No one can explain the strange products they make. You either like them or you don't. Leica users either love them or hate them. There is no explanation of why the Hexar RF has certain features and lacks others. The company will meet your questions with silence. Even when they repair something, there is none but the most cryptic explanation. Just think of it as a Zen conceit. "Stanislaw B.A. Stawowy" wrote: > > If the KM-mount lens focus well on a M6, why many users report that Hexar-RF > > can not focus well with Leica lens? Is this a QC issue? Adjusting the > > Hexar-RF body will cure this problem? > > Just to cite Stephen Gandy: > > ******************** > Viewing area is 85% at 3 meters, and becomes less as the lens is focused to infinity which increases the lens' angle of view (yeah, > weird I know, but optics are like that). The Hexar has the SAME rangefinder baselength: 69.2 mm as the Leica M. Curiously, the > Hexar's image magnification is lower at .6 (same as the Leica CL) instead of Leica's .72 or .85, resulting in an effective > rangefinder baselength of 69.2 x .6 = 41.5 which is 83% as accurate (all other factors being equal) as the .72 M6. In practical > terms this means the Hexar will be easier to use with the 28 and 35 for eye glasses wearers, but won't give the focusing accuracy > needed for the 50/1.4 or faster, 75/1.4, 90/2, or 135/4 wide-open at the closest focusing distance. > ******************** > > With all that said, I don't see a reason why Hexar shouldn't be used with some > Leica lenses. Rangefinder is so easy to adjust thing... > > yours truly curious > ----- > St. > (Stanislaw B.A. Stawowy) > http://www.geocities.com/Stanislaw_Stawowy > Echelon/Carnivore lines: Bob Black, Hakim Bey, > Ralph Klein, Sabotage in the American Workplace