Re: [Leica] soft focus?

["Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>]

It's funny! I have the 90 Summicron which I am selling since it is TOO sharp
for the portraits I do.... I settled on a 'skinny Elmar' circa 1933! I found
that portraits seemed to be a lot better at about f4, and the uncoated Elmar
does what I want it to do. Of course, I am 53 and favor  mature ladies, but
even children look good with the softer lens.
It is interesting also, from what I read, that Leitz made the 90 Elmar, not
as a portrait lens, but rather to help the photographer to compse his shot
better- even if unable to get closer.
As an aside- I recently did some portraits of a two year old boy. What an
education! Perpetual Motion! I ended up getting the best shots with a 50,
just to keep him in frame! I was reminded of the analogy of a difficult
task- "Like nailing Jell-o to a tree....". Well, doing a portrait of a two
year old should rank a couple of notches higher on the difficulty scale!!
Dan ( I used to be fast... now, I am just half fast.) Post

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Dykstra <rdandcb@cybermac.com.au>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2000 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] soft focus?


> HotRodVon@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > I love my M6...Until recently!   I bought a new 90 2.8 Elmarit...and no
> > matter what, I can't seem to get any sharp results.    Does anybody have
a clue why this is
> > happening?
>
> The 90mm lenses are quite tricky to use with an M, in my experience.
>
> Lately I've been using the 90 apo Asph, and my technique with portraits
> is to focus on the eyelid line, and then tweak the lens to a slightly
> closer focus, a minimum of movement clockwise.  This greatly reduces the
> number of shots where the focus ends up behind the subject (children
> tend to droop forward as your setting up the shot, specially if you've
> asked them to sit up a little straighter).  Look carefully at the ears
> and hair of your subjects in your unsuccessful photos.  Is the focus
> behind the subject's eyes and more on the ears?
>
>
> I'm also using a telescopic rod with a ball head on the end, to provide
> the M6 with more support - gives a dramatic improvement - so much so
> that shots are sharper at 1/125 than at 1/250 without the brace.  This
> allows me to use f4 to 5.6 instead of f2.8 to 4 in our Aussie ambient
> light in shady conditions with 100 speed Reala.
>
> let us know how you go, please.  I'm always looking for clues on making
> better portraits with a 90 and M.
>
> Regards
>
> Rick Dykstra