M240 Focus

[zekk67]

Hi everyone, it's me again.
I recently bought a m240. Being a digital camera user, I had always relied on the LCD screen to view how good my pictures were after shooting. With the M240, I am not too sure about the screen. With my Summaron 35mm F3.5, whether I am using LV or RF shooting, the picture seems soft and focusing seemed off on the screen. Even when I checked on my PC, I am not entirely convinced that I got the focusing right. Has anyone tried using this lens on m240? Please share your experience. Thanks.

 

[genstars]

I thought you are looking for M9/M9-P ?

End up bought M240

 

[roger8]

assuming your focus peaking is done correctly, it could either be the camera body or the lens needs adjustment. please refer to my earlier comment before you bought your camera.

 

[zixaw]

assuming your focus peaking is done correctly, it could either be the camera body or the lens needs adjustment. please refer to my earlier comment before you bought your camera.

If using Live View and focus peaking, there is almost no way the lens or body needs adjustment because you are looking through the lens and the sensor is displaying what it "sees". What you see is pretty much what you get. If there is a problem, you will notice it in Live View.

What shutter speeds are you shooting at? Are you adopting the proper techniques and not moving right after you press the shutter?

 

[Srono]

Not only focus/rangefinder calibration can be the issue. He probably meant lens issue (element alignment, haze etc)

Just test with 45 degree shot of newspaper. You should find a focus point somewhere. That is the sharpest point, if it is not sharp enough for you, try another lens.

In general summaron 3.5 is sharp lens especially stopped down. However, this lens is often found with haze. Haze lowers the contrast (which is already lower in thia lens conpared to modern lens) and reduce the visual sharpness. Dont expect 60 y.o lens be as sharp wide open as modern asph.

If using Live View and focus peaking, there is almost no way the lens or body needs adjustment because you are looking through the lens and the sensor is displaying what it "sees". What you see is pretty much what you get. If there is a problem, you will notice it in Live View.

What shutter speeds are you shooting at? Are you adopting the proper techniques and not moving right after you press the shutter?

 

[zixaw]

Not only focus/rangefinder calibration can be the issue. He probably meant lens issue (element alignment, haze etc)

Just test with 45 degree shot of newspaper. You should find a focus point somewhere. That is the sharpest point, if it is not sharp enough for you, try another lens.

In general summaron 3.5 is sharp lens especially stopped down. However, this lens is often found with haze. Haze lowers the contrast (which is already lower in thia lens conpared to modern lens) and reduce the visual sharpness. Dont expect 60 y.o lens be as sharp wide open as modern asph.

But if using Live View it will show up during focusing.

 

[zekk67]

After testing with a few shots using a summicron f2, I can conclude it's either the lens or my expectations. I guess you are right, it will be difficult to match the more recent lens. Thanks for your advice!

 

[roger8]

But if using Live View it will show up during focusing.

Generally yes, but with LV, it is difficult to achieve critical sharpness due to the LCD/EVF. With Peaking, it is still an electronic interpretation of the 'areas' of equal 'sharpness' that the camera can detect. Unless you have a totally flat surface it is unlikely to have a blob of equal sharpness.

Even with normal AF, unless you pick areas of distinctly high contrast, the AF could be locking on to adjacent areas even though it indicates that the AF has been achieved at the area you aimed at due to the size of the focus detection area. So it is still not clear where the problem lies if user thinks he is not getting the expected sharpness. My 2 cents worth.

 

[shepherdmoon]

Not likely because of the body since it is brand new. Most probably due to lens and how much you magnify when checking image. try to compare with different lenses you will see.

 

[crispy12]

What lens and what aperture shutter speed? Could be motion blur or barrow DOF. 50mm lens at f2 or f1.4 is incredibly difficult to focus accurately at 70cm.

I got over this by stopping down when shooting very close, or being very careful.