[Leica] RE; Autofocusing M lenses

Fri Feb 12 10:22:44 PST 2016

You did really well with these, but I am intrigued by the split image—I had no idea Fuji had it. Maybe I should look in the manual after all.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
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> On 12 Feb 2016, at 07:53, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>> 
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> 
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