T-elliott
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Some time ago, I was fortuned and lucky enough to have had the chance to acquire a secondhand Leica Noctilux 50mm f0.95 at an unbelievable good price. A dream of more than 10 years worth of waiting for such an opportunity that didn't come soon enough 
I personally don't own a Leica body and have exclusively been using the lens (very successfully) with my trusted Sony a7RIV, albeit the weight imbalance and obvious difficulty in acquiring proper focus consistently.
Recently I purchased the TechArt Leica-M adapter, a definitely under-engineered product and prone to mechanical failure as we all-too-well unfortunately already know. But it's convenience of use has proven to be a lifesaver for lots of situation for me.
I've developed a simple technique to use it, which is to instead of holding the camera while letting the adapter normally do it's work on the lens, I actually just hold the lens itself and let the adapter move the camera body, which is a much lighter load. With some practice (and lots of patience) I have managed to make this setup work very well in hopes that will mitigate the appearance of the wobble issue, to as late as possible. Focusing works fairly well and I am satisfied with the hit ratio (which by any means and realistically is bad given the characteristics of the lens). But it does the job well enough, mostly better than when I try to focus manually myself for extended periods of time.
What I cannot understand, is how companies like TechArt can survive throughout the years with such bad ratings and reputation, making products that are consistently mediocre. On a side note, I also own another TechArt adapter for the GFX/EF mount and that has equally given me nothing but troubles since the first day as well.
My question is, how on earth this Leica-M/Sony adapter now that its more than five years old, was never cared for to be improved or the design somehow changed for increased and acceptable long-term reliability?
Just out of curiosity, who are these people? Where are they based at and who is their development team? For me its always been awe, companies that manage to survive years making premium-priced products with less than average performance or endurance, that never reply to their customers or take them into consideration, and that still manage to stay afloat selling the same items for more than half a decade long that have never worked properly since the first day. Quite an incredible feat!
Either way, my post is mainly to share how I am using the TechArt in hopes others with the same adapter (still working well or already not in prime mechanical condition), can try to take the most advantage of it. Either handheld or on a tripod (by obviously mounting the lens itself on the support gear), you will potentially extend the life of your TechArt adapter by easing the force with which it needs to do it's work. Though not a perfect solution nor convenient all the time, I find that holding the lens and just letting the adapter freely move the body, is a sure way to hope for a little bit of a longer worry free operation.
Cheers, Travis
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