Lens out of alignment? Distance scale screwed?

[merciful]

I've been digging around in the camera collection, re-organising, considering what has to go, and so on. A while into the project, I became distracted and began messing with my Ms and various lenses, comparing feel and all that jazz. Essentially, I was avoiding the task at hand. Here's the interesting bit: it seems that my Canon 35/1.8 is either out of alignment somehow (I don't know if that's possible); or the distance scale on the lens is way off.

Nikkor 85/2, Summitar, Canon 50/2, and 90 Elmar all report these results:

License plate, 30 ft.; very uninterested cat 3.5 ft.

While the 35/1.8 reads:

License plate, 50 ft. +; cat 4.5 ft.

Now, obviously, the way to check on things is to run a roll through the M2 with the 35/1.8 close-up and wide-open; and I probably will. But whaddya think?

[Kim Coxon]

You can either run a film through or check with a ground glass screen and a loupe. The important thing is that thr RF cam matches the actual lens focus. The actual distance scale is less important. It could be that the distance scale is out or perhaps worse the RF cam is out of adjustment.

Kim

[merciful]

Thanks, Kim. I've shot close-up and wide-open with the lens (of course), and the results have been good. That would make me inclined to believe that it's the distance scale at fault, I guess. Here's an example as close as it'll go, which would leave a zone of aceptable sharpness of about four inches.