Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/08/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The traditional check requires a newspaper and a ruler. Mount the paper at a 45 degree angle to the optical axis. Mark HEAVILY, using a magic marker or similar, the center of the paper. A nice bold vertical line. Put ruler horizontally along the paper. ( the ruler tells you haw far off you are in measured terms.) Stand back, use tripod, focus on the line, shoot picture. Make major change to the last focus then refocus completely again. Do this several times. Develop negs, inspect NEGS ( or chromes under a loupe), not cheapo color prints ( too much chance the printer had HIS focus off). ( You do get some info from the distance you are actually from the bold line vs what the lens says the distance to the line is... but truthfully, the best data comes from the film itself) You will see if the line is in sharp focus, or where the real optical focus is set. You can try this at different distances, but generally, 5-10 feet should show you everything you want to know. Next..... do you have another lens to make comparisons against? The question that arises is.. is it the lens or the camera? Or the cheapo printer that sold you out of focus prints? Frank Filippone red735i@earthlink.net