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Manual focusing on the Leica T

Ocean

Senior Subscriber Member
Jono,

Beautiful images from the T as all your images are!

Is the EVF for T much better than the VF-2 for M240? For me, without zoom-in function and focus peaking off, the VF-2 is not very useful at all. On the other hand, I do use the similar practice as you describe in your article to manual focus (no zoom-in and focus peak off) with my Sony A7r. I found it's quite effective. Just hope Leica come up with an improved EVF for M240 soon.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi There
Thank You!

I'm afraid there isn't likely to be an improved EVF for the M240, because of the processing required as I understand it.

The EVF on the T is the same panel (I think) as in the Fuji XT, Olympus E-M1 and the Sony A7, so it is better than the VF2

All the best
 

jonoslack

Active member
Why on earth can you only zoom in to the centre?
I think that it's because they have really really tried to cut down on options in an attempt to avoid the menu bloat that other cameras increasingly suffer from. Of course, if you do that then you miss out some things that some people want. I actually don't miss this, never use it on my E-M1. There are other things I do miss, but I understand that there have to be some sacrifices to keep things simple.

it's just the same on the M. But zooming in to different places on an EVF would be a bit odd anyway.
 

dchew

Well-known member
Jono,
Very nice article and great photos. I've been curious about getting the T for my wife. I keep waffling back and forth between that and the Sony RX100. How intuitive is the menu structure on the T?

Dave
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono,
Very nice article and great photos. I've been curious about getting the T for my wife. I keep waffling back and forth between that and the Sony RX100. How intuitive is the menu structure on the T?

Dave
HI Dave
Thanks

Well, the T is much bigger than the RX100, it's also a great deal heavier. There are still some oddities with the T, but there should be a firmware update before too long. As you can understand, image quality is in a different league (good though the Sony is).

I think I'd take my wife to a Leica store and see if she falls in love with it.

I really like it, and I sold my RX100 (version 1), but then, I'm not your wife :ROTFL:
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Good article, Jono. And some lovely photographs as usual.

I'm with you on focusing methodology, regardless whether it's the T, the GXR, the E-M1, the A7 or whatever EVF camera. I use all the focusing assistance modes, but not all the time—depends on what the situation is.

Magnification assist is most useful to me when I'm using short focal length lenses. Although I can often nail the focus pretty well even with a 24mm at wide lens openings, when stopped down even 1-2 stops it's better to magnify for critical accuracy. For lenses 35-40mm and up, its not all that necessary unless I really need super critical focus and am working wide open. As focal length goes up, I reduce the magnification factor to keep viewfinder jitter down.

Peaking is a nice tool when used sensibly for a coarse, quick focusing methodology. The Olympus only has one level of peaking indication but it's well arranged to be useful on most scenes where peaking is useful. The Sony has three-four levels of peaking indication and is harder to figure when to use what. Frankly, the best peaking I've used is in the Ricoh GXR: in one mode, it pairs peaking with a filter that renders the scene a flat grey except for the peaking edges, making the focus indication much clearer to my eye. The GXR also wins on usability: both peaking and magnification can be assigned to the left-right buttons on the four-way controller and it's a simple tap ON-tap OFF for either, or both. The Olympus and Sony implementations are fussier to control.

But, I feel the best thing to do is to simply learn how to focus with the viewfinder without aids first. Much like manual focusing with an SLR, it's an acquired skill that rewards patience and practice most. Expecting the camera to tell you when you have best focus reliably and consistently through focusing aids is just like hoping that auto focus will work reliably and consistently 100% of the time, no matter what. And we all know that just isn't a realistic expectation with today's AF technology, no matter how good it might be in any camera.

G
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Jono,

You have done it again...wonderful exposition of the camera...in spite of an early perhaps a bit rough interface?

The Bride, Groom and Posing for the Camera pictures rank with your best.

BTW... my Silver Mono arrived today...traded my black one to move up to the Leica S from the S2-P. I am still indebted to you for the MM evaluation and pictures from China.


Regards,

Bob
 

jonoslack

Active member
Um, thank God for that!

Thanks Jono. We are heading to Switzerland and Germany in early October. Maybe I can find a Leica store there somewhere.
:)

Dave
Hi Dave
If you're passing through Schipol airport they do quite a lot of Leica stuff at good prices.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono,

You have done it again...wonderful exposition of the camera...in spite of an early perhaps a bit rough interface?
Thank You Bob! I'm flattered.
The interface isn't perfect, although hopefully it will be improved with a firmware update in the near future. Then I do think it promises to be really excellent
 
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