Problems with Leica Cameras

Following my YouTube channel poll here are the most common problems with Leica cameras. These are the top 12 problems reported by Leica photographers + 3 additional issues that frustrate me.

Note. Leica M camera problems 

From reading the YouTube viewer comments it looks like many Leica camera problems on this list relate specifically to rangefinder cameras – Leica M cameras, digital and film + Leica iii cameras.

Leica Q cameras and Leica SL/CL cameras

If you use Leica Q series cameras, Leica SL cameras or the Leica CL you shouldn’t be impacted by many of the listed difficulties.

1) Affording a Leica camera

PROBLEM: One problem that impacts all Leica cameras (and lenses) is the often expensive price tag. This high barrier to entry prevents many photographers from trying Leica cameras.

SOLUTION: The cheapest Leica camera options to shoot film are some of the Leica R cameras and the older Leica iii cameras. If you are a digital photographer the more affordable Leica M cameras include the Leica M8, M9, M240. Other less expensive digital camera models include the Leica SL, Leica Q and the discontinued Leica CL.

2) Obtaining the correct exposure

PROBLEM: One of the most common problems Leica users reported was obtaining the correct exposure in their photos.

SOLUTION: When I meter exposure I fill the viewfinder with the area of interest. If I want to meter for the sky I point the camera at the sky. If I want to meter a backlit model I meter off the models skin (making sure I can only see skin in the viewfinder by walking in close). I then backup to take the final photo. I almost always use manual exposure but if the sun is behind me and I was photographing an evenly lit scene I would be happy to use auto exposure if the camera offered that feature.

If the highlights are most important to you in a photo (say a sunset shot), meter for the sky, if the shadow detail is the most important meter for the shadow area in the scene. If you like both equally, take a meter reading from each and dial in the average meter reading before taking your photo.

3) Removing the lens cap

PROBLEM: If you’ve never shot with a rangefinder camera you might not understand this point. With an SLR camera you focus through the lens so you need to remove the cap to see your planned photo. With Leica rangefinder cameras you are looking through the optical viewfinder/ rangefinder and not through the lens so it’s entirely possible to shoot an entire roll of film or digital session and have all blank photos if you didn’t take the lens cap off. You’re likely to only ever do this mistake once! #

SOLUTION: You can use a UV protection filter instead of a lens cap or just get into the habit of taking off the cap before every shoot.

4) Straight horizon lines

PROBLEM: Some viewers reported struggling with obtaining straight horizon lines in their photos.

SOLUTION: If you line up your viewfinder frame lines with either your horizon or verticals it should be pretty easy to capture straight compositions. I think I automatically do this before pressing the shutter button so it’s probably just a good habit you can to build up over time. 

5) Leica film loading 

PROBLEM: If you’re new to film photography or new to Leica film cameras especially you might find the first few rolls of film difficult to load. SLR film cameras are typically easier to load with the hinge style back doors than Leica cameras. 

SOLUTION: Leica M cameras are easier to load than Leica iii cameras. See YouTube videos linked below for visuals. 

My updated recommendation is once you have loaded the film use the film rewind crank to add tension, then advance the film one frame and you’re ready to shoot. That will give you 38 frames per roll, sometimes 39. (Don’t do the usual load film and then fire off multiple frames. It’s not required).  

My biggest tip to ensure your film is correctly loaded is when you advance the first frame ensure that the dots or arrow on the film rewind crank turn too. If they don’t then your film is not correctly loaded. 

6) Rangefinder focusing + Issues

Perhaps one of the biggest differences with rangefinder cameras compared to SLR/ DSLR or mirrorless cameras is how you focus your image. With non-rangefinder cameras you focus through the lens. You can see the depth of field of your final photos based on your aperture setting and it’s a case of what you see is what you get. 

To focus a rangefinder camera image you have to overlay the viewfinder image with the rangefinder patch image to confirm focus. When a rangefinder camera is correctly calibrated once the two images line up you will obtain a sharp final photo. A common problem with vintage rangefinder cameras is often they’ve had a knock and the rangefinder is out of alignment. Set your lens to infinity. If the two rangefinder images won’t exactly overlap the final photo will not be in sharp focus. The camera will need re-calibrating before further use to ensure sharp images, especially at wider apertures. 

6b) Is it the camera or the lens?

A common question I receive from new Leica film photographers is, the photos are not in focus – “Is it a camera problem or a lens issue?” In an ideal world (I appreciate you may only have one lens), try using the camera with a different lens. If the photos are not sharp with any lens it is a camera issue (and it needs calibrating). If you photos are normally sharp but with one lens the photos are blurry it is a lens problem.

6c) Some lenses will make the camera look like it is out of focus

It worth mentioning for anyone new to Leica rangefinder cameras that not all lenses work flawlessly with your system. I’ll state the obvious for completeness first. You can’t focus SLR lenses on a rangefinder camera (when looking through the viewfinder) as they are not rangefinder coupled lenses. You can scale focus wider lenses (28mm and wider especially) very easily. An example would be if you are a Nikon guy but just treated yourself to a Leica film body. You can use your favourite Nikkor 28mm f2.8 AIS lens on the Leica and just zone focus. I do this sometimes.

The more common problem that people have is using some Soviet lenses on Leica bodies. I’ve documented this in other posts but in brief the flange distance of Soviet bodies is slightly different to Leica. As a result, often a Soviet lens will not correctly align on a Leica body causing mis-focus issues. Wider lenses are less affected, fast 50mm and longer lenses often have problems from my experience. The Jupiter-3 and Jupiter-9 as two examples. This phenomenon also happens when mixing Nikon-S mount and Contax lenses/ cameras.

7) Leica zone focusing (scale focusing)

The second common approach when taking photos using Leica cameras is zone focusing or scale focus. Most Leica lenses have a hyper focal distance scale marked on the top of the lens. Unlike rangefinder focusing where you look through the camera to ensure precise focus, with zone focusing you estimate the distance from the camera to your subject. This approach is better suited to wider lenses and a stopped down aperture as a greater depth of focus makes it very easy to attain sharp photos.

PROBLEM: You don’t know what the small numbers and lines mean on the top of your rangefinder lens.

SOLUTION: For newbies, when looking at the top of your lens you will see the aperture values marked twice. On 50mm and longer lenses these numbers are closer together and less easy to see. On 28mm and wider lenses the numbers are more spaced out. Let’s say you are shooting at f8 and you are doing street photography where your subjects are around 3m away from you. The way I do this is a set my focus band so it covers the area I want in focus. Turn the lens so that it is focused at 3m. If you now look at where the two f8 markings line up, it might be 2m and 5m. That means everything from 2-5m will be in focus at f8.

With wide lenses such as 21mm you pretty much can’t miss as often 1.5m to infinity is in focus at f8. f11 will give you a broader depth of focus, f5.6 a more narrow depth of focus, and so on. I often teach this during my Leica workshops or explain it on Zoom consultation calls.

You can scale focus or zone focus any lens that has a hyperfocal distance scale. It is not camera specific.

8) Seeing to focus accurately

PROBLEM: Some Leica users report that they struggle to see through their Leica camera to focus accurately. Common causes of this are people with non-20:20 vision and not wearing glasses (me) or those wearing prescription glasses (and then glasses add to the problem).

SOLUTION: This varies depending on what camera you are using. If you use Leica iii cameras the viewfinder is small so less suited to glasses wearers. Leica iii bodies have a built in rangefinder diopter so they are more accurate than Leica M cameras. If you use Leica M film cameras you can add a 1.25x or 1.4x viewfinder magnifier. I use the 1.4x finder to make cameras like the Leica M6 closer in accuracy to the Leica M3. The Leica M3 is the easiest Leica M camera to focus. 1.4x is better for 50mm and longer lenses, 1.25x is better for 35mm lenses. You can also buy Leica M viewfinder diopters that screw into the camera finder the same way the magnifiers do.

For digital Leica M users, if your camera has a LiveView option (most cameras from the M240 onwards), you can just cheat and focus via an electronic viewfinder (EVF) or Visoflex.

9) Sharp images

PROBLEM: Some viewers report that they struggle to obtain sharp images when they need to focus and then recompose.

SOLUTION: Leica cameras are designed to be accurate despite the focus then recompose two-step operation. The only way you can miss focus is if you introduce forward or back movement between focusing and recomposing. Lock your elbows next to your side, breath in, focus, then compose while ensuring you keep the same distance from your subject (and plain of focus). I have used ultra fast 50mm f1 lenses on Leica rangefinder cameras with sharp results so with normal lenses sharp photos are very achievable.

10) Parallax error

PROBLEM: Parallax error is when your final photo composition is different to how you framed the shot through the camera viewfinder. This problem only occurs when photographing subjects closer to the camera. At infinity this is not an issue. When photographing a subject at 1m distance (for example) the framing will be below that shown by the viewfinder. This is because the lens is positioned below the viewfinder so at close distance you need to compensate accordingly.

SOLUTION: To correct your photo composition for parallax error, tilt the camera down slightly (or towards the lens if shooting in portrait orientation). This doesn’t affect most Leica cameras. See list below.

My biggest struggle with parallax error is I just forget to compensate. With a 50mm lens at 1m distance which is a common setup for me using Leica iii cameras it just results in a slightly off centre portrait (see below). When you shoot a 90mm lens at 0.9m the effect is more dramatic (see the above photo).

11) Limited telephoto lens options

PROBLEM: Some of you stated that your problem with Leica camera is the limited options for telephoto lenses.

SOLUTION: Yes this is true for Leica iii and Leica M film cameras. There are telephoto lenses available for the Leica R camera system. You can also adapt Leica R lenses to Leica digital bodies if focusing via an EVF. Leica SL series users also have access to telephoto autofocus Leica SL lenses. Another option is to adapt non-Leica lenses to you digital Leica camera via an adapter. I have used my Nikkor 180mm f2.8 D lens on my Leica cameras.

12) Photo inspiration

PROBLEM: The most common difficulty Leica photographers reported was struggling to feel inspired to use their nice Leica cameras.

SOLUTION: As this is a big topic, I made a full video and a blog post to give 23 photo inspiration ideas for you to try. These are the hacks I use to help keep me feeling inspired.

My additional top 3 problems with Leica rangefinder cameras as a long term user

1) Limited minimum focus distance

PROBLEM: Leica iii cameras only focus as close as 1m so are not good for close up detail photos. Most Leica M cameras focus to 0.7m. Some new rangefinder lenses now focus to 0.5m so if the lens is set between 0.5m and 0.69m you will likely mis-focus as the rangefinder patch does not move at distances below the coupled 0.7m.

SOLUTION: The simple solution is to carry a SLR camera in additional to your rangefinder camera. As an ex-Nikon guy I still enjoy using small Nikon bodies such as the Nikon FE2. If you want to stick to rangefinder cameras you can buy close focus adapters for Leica iii and Leica M bodies. (You can also get the visoflex housing to convert your Leica into a SLR style view camera (designed for lab work). Most Leica M cameras focus down to 0.7m. The earlier Leica M3 cameras were designed to focus at 1m MFD (the same as Leica iii cameras). You can however ask a skilled Leica repair technician to recalibrate your Leica M3 so it focuses from 0.7m to infinity. Both of my Leica M3 cameras focus to 0.7m and this process does not damage or devalue your camera.

When using modern Leica M mount lenses on a Leica film camera that focus closer that 0.7m, I set the lens distance to 0.7m and then walk in the camera towards the subject until i hit focus. This avoids wasting film.

2) Not through the lens view

PROBLEM 1: Lens flare. If like me you enjoy shooting towards the light, you can’t pre-visualise the impact of lens flare before taking the photo (and micro-adjust accordingly for the desired effect). This is particularly problematic when shooting with vintage uncoated or single coated lenses.

SOLUTION 1: An easy solution is to always shoot with the sun on your back. If you need to shoot towards a light source like the sun you can shade the lens with your hand. Just look at the front of your lenses and make sure it is in the shade before clicking the shutter. Sadly neither solution works for my needs as I want some artistic flare in the final photo. I have to use digital cameras with an EVF if I know a lens is very prone to heavy flare.

2b) Shoot through problems

PROBLEM 2: Shoot through compositions. If you are trying to capture some foreground blur to add depth to your image this can be more difficult with a rangefinder camera. If you are shooting through foliage for example there might be a leaf in front of your lens but when you compose through the viewfinder (positioned above and left of the lens) you can’t see the leaf. You take the image all excited to see the final masterpiece only to develop the film and get a blank negative.

SOLUTION 2: The easy solution is use SLR cameras or digital cameras with an EVF. When you are photographing people ask them, “can you see the front of the lens?”. If yes you can shoot without worry. If not, try to look in front of your lens for any obstructions before taking the shot.

2c) Difficult lighting

PROBLEM: Fast changing lighting conditions and shooting towards the light. Most camera light meters are not accurate enough to meter for back lit subjects. This means shoot in manual exposure mode which is fine. If you are photographing a fast paced event such as a cold model on a windy cliff top back lit by the sun on a day with broken cloud cover (so the sun is in out in out constantly) it hard to meter every photo accurately with a rangefinder camera.

SOLUTION 3: Digital cameras with an EVF make it very easy as you can see the impact of the changing exposure in real time and micro-adjust accordingly on the fly. Non-Leica M cameras are better as built in EVF don’t suffer from the lag issues of some Leica M EVF units. Leica SL/ CL/ Q series cameras are all fine.

3) Rangefinder design is too fragile

PROBLEM: My biggest gripe with Leica rangefinder cameras is one drop, knock or strong vibration and your camera rangefinder is now out of alignment and requires attention. Not great if you are on a world trip or in the middle of photographing social unrest. (It’s not great even if you live in a calm and comfortable flat in London). Effort, time (and often expense) is now required before you can take more photos if you want them sharp.

SOLUTION: The ideal solution if you only use rangefinder cameras is to teach yourself how to recalibrate your rangefinder. Get the required tools in advance so you are prepared when for when you need them. (As a rough guide, my Leica M240 rangefinder needed recalibrating approximately every 12 months when I used the camera regularly). If you don’t fancy doing this yourself you will need to send your camera to a Leica repair centre and this often means being without your camera for weeks or months.

If you want a rangefinder camera that almost never needs readjustment, buy a Kiev 4 camera instead. These cameras have a different rangefinder design and they stay aligned. If not just use an SLR film camera or digital camera with EVF. (You can also scale focus only, as mentioned above, and then you never need a rangefinder to focus. This is how I use my Leica I Standard and Bessa L camera).

Watch the summary video on YouTube

More rangefinder vs SLR content