My 35mm seems to focus past the 0.7m mark at which point the rangefinder disengages and stops coinciding. I understand that the lens' closest focus point is .7m or about 28", but is normal that the focus travel should move beyond that point (apx 1/8")?

-- Dave Doyle (soilsouth@home.com), December 06, 2001

Answers

It is normal and if you want you can adjust the close limit of your rangefinder arm. Have a look inside the lens mount as you move the rangefinder arm in and out. The flat metal stop can be CAREFULLY bent SLIGHTLY to increase the rangefinder arm's travel. Now take some photos wide open to check if the rangefinder is accurate.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 06, 2001.

how far can you bend the metal thingy? my voigtlander 21 focuses down to 0.5m. could the leica be adjusted to focus all the way down?

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 06, 2001.

I did that in my M3 to make it focus to -70cm, and the limit is when you begin to miss the infinity setting, it is quite easy to do, and quite easy to damage other parts of the system too, I recomend to do it very carefuly.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), December 06, 2001.

From what I was told, .7 meters is the minimum focus that the system can track down to. That's pretty good for a rangefinder--most rangefinder cameras only couple to .9 or 1.O meter.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 07, 2001.