[Leica] RE; Autofocusing M lenses

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Never tried it. I find Focus Peaking works quite well, even for my weakish
eyesight, as long as the subject is stationary. Here are some samples which
I took mainly at the behest of Alastair Firkin, with various lenses mounted
on the Fuji XT-1, all manually focused with the aid of focus peaking. All
are just default processed in Lightroom, with no additional processing. The
models were my niece Shreeya, and my younger son, Aditya :

The first was an unscientific look at both the Summicron and the Fuji 56mm
as short portrait lenses, both at f2:

Shreeya - Leica Summicron:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album333/Leica+Summicron+50.jpg.html

Shrreya - Fuji 56mm:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album333/Fuji+56.jpg.html

Then, two of  Aditya with the Tele-Elmarit 90mm wide open:

Natural Light:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album333/1+Natural+Light.jpg.html

Artificial Light:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album333/2+Fluoroscent+Light.jpg.html

Cheers
Jayanand

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 11:47 AM, Peter Klein <boulanger.croissant at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Ah, another check mark on Fuji's chalkboard.  Didn't know they had a split
> image. How accurate is it? One advantage of a "real" RF is that the
> physical baselength can be as long as can fit on the camera body, whereas
> the physical baselength of the digital split image is the diameter of the
> lens. Although some magnification could mitigate that...?
>
> I will sometimes put a Leica lens on my Olympus E-M5, usually for
> telephoto.  A 90mm Leica mount lens makes a rather compact 180mm
> equivalent.  I usually just use the digital focus magnifier.  Easy.
>
> --Peter
>
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 9:52 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Both a Digital Split Image overlay and Focus Peaking as manual focus aids
> > are available on my Fuji XT-1, which accepts M lenses quite effortlessly
> > with an adapter. In fact Fuji themselves make an adapter.
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 8:42 AM, Peter Klein <
> > boulanger.croissant at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > In theory it should work just fine. You leave the lens on infinity, and
> > the
> > > adapter does the rest.  The adapter must:
> > >
> > > -Interface to the camera's AF electronics such that the camera can tell
> > it
> > > "forward, back, stop").
> > > -Be thin enough to allow infinity focus.
> > > -Contain motors and a mechanism that will rack the lens out
> sufficiently
> > to
> > > focus the lens to a reasonable close distance. The mechanism must fit
> in
> > > the adapter. This is easier to do with SLR lens adapters. M lenses
> have a
> > > shorter back focus distance, and M to mirrorless adapters are quiet
> short
> > > compared to SLR adapters. Perhaps some of the mechanism could be below
> > the
> > > adapter, or concentric to it.)
> > >
> > > The major problems with M lenses on other cameras would still be corner
> > > smearing and color shifts, unless the sensor's Bayer array was designed
> > for
> > > M lenses. And would the autofocus be fast and accurate enough, and
> would
> > > using the adapter be convenient enough that you wouldn't get fed up
> with
> > it
> > > quickly?
> > >
> > > Personally, I'd love to have an autofocus M that also did RF focusing.
> > But
> > > as Larry mentions, it would have to be worth someone's while to
> > > manufacture. Most manufacturers have already passed on making their own
> > > rangefinder mechanism. Leica seems to be willing to make RF cameras
> along
> > > traditional M lines, but not to do anything radical with them.  But
> what
> > > about something entirely new by a third party--an AF camera that also
> did
> > > some sort of visual rangefinder simulation in an EVF, and was designed
> to
> > > take M lenses. Ideally, the version for M lenses would have a Bayer
> array
> > > with microlens offsets licensed from Leica.  The SLR lens version would
> > > have a more conventional sensor.
> > >
> > > All technically possible. The big question is whether there are enough
> > > legacy(*) lens fans, and in particular M lens fans, to make such a
> camera
> > > commercially viable.
> > >
> > > --Peter, who actually dislikes the word "legacy."
> > >
> > > On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Larry Zeitlin via LUG <
> > > lug at leica-users.org>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > About 40 years ago, give or take a decade, a precision camera make,
> > > > probably Zeiss. marketed a camera in which the focus was adjusted by
> > > moving
> > > > the film plane. This simplified lenses but had the downsides of
> > increased
> > > > expense for the camera body and the difficulty of providing enough
> > motion
> > > > for long focus lenses. The idea was abandoned after a few years but I
> > > > believe that with modern electronics it could provide automatic focus
> > > for M
> > > > lenses. But, of course, there would be little incentive for Leica to
> > > adopt
> > > > such a system. Maybe a third party could sell a universal camera
> which
> > > > would autofocus with all makers lenses.
> > > > Larry Z
> > > >
> > > > + + +
> > > > LUG:
> > > >
> > > > Any idea whether this would actually work or not?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.thephoblographer.com/2016/02/11/the-techart-pro-lens-adapter-promises-autofocus-for-leica-m-mount-glass/#.VrywD_krJaQ
> > > >
> > > > Tina
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > >
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