Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/13
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At 9:22 PM -0800 2/13/03, Stephen Gandy wrote:
>or a 12/5.6 at infinity.
>
>I was surprised to find my shots with the Voigtlander 12 and Hexar RF of the
>John Travalta film Swordfish weren't as sharp as my first 12 test shots on my
>M6. (the scene with the bus on its side in front of the bank was shot on
>Main Street in Ventura CA). I had the Hexar RF back focus checked, and it
>was off. It was fixed thru a friend at Konica Japan. Since the factory
>can fix the Hexar RF problem if it wants to, it completely escape me why some
>claim there is no problem just because they have not personally encountered
>it. Bob Shell's Hexar RF was also out of specs. His was fixed by Ken
>Ruth at Photography on Bald Mountain. certainly not all Hexar RF's have
>back focus problems, but some certainly do. the only way to be sure is to
>have a particular Hexar RF body checked by a good Leica tech.
>
>Stephen
>
>Dante Stella wrote:
>
>> Dead wrong. A fast wideangle at infinity, like a 21/2.8. That is
>> where if you have any error in back focus, you will focus in front of
> > or behind infinity.
I don't think that anyone said there were no problems in individual
cases. On the other hand, I don't think that anyone said or will say
that there are no problems in individual cases with Leica cameras. In
the cameras I have used, there have been no problems with respect to
the flange to filmplane issue with Konica Hexar RFs (2 used) but
there have been problems with Leicas (about 20 used, 2 with
problems). On this basis I'm not going to state categorically that
Leicas are incompatible with Leica lenses, only that in certain cases
some adjustments might have to be made. With the two Hexars, the
35/1.4 Summilux ASPH focuses perfectly at all distances wide open, as
does my 75/1.4. The 12/5.6 is right on, as is the 21/2.8 and 135/4.
Since these all work well at all apertures and distances on both
bodies, I feel that I can say that my samples are compatible from any
perspective.
I dropped a Hexar from about 3 feet onto a tile floor, and it was
fine. I dropped one from about 1 foot onto carpet on wood, and the
rangefinder was off both horizontally and vertically. Since I always
carry a small screwdriver with me, this was fixed in about 2 minutes.
With Leicas, I carry an angled screwdriver so that I can fix the
horizontal alignment (most critical), but for the vertical adjustment
needs to be seen by my local friendly with the right tool. My Leicas
also suffer from the problem that a drop from a foot onto carpet does
serious damage while a larger drop onto a hard surface seems to be
something they can handle.
On the basis of this experience, I'm quite happy with the Hexars and
trust them to the same extent that I would trust a 0.58 Leica.
- --
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com
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