Leica M6 viewfinder on infinity (with 50mm lens)

[darkosaric]

Hi,

I will do a test by myself one of these days, but as always – I like to double check with my APUG friends also .

So, the problem is Leica M6 viewfinder on infinity (with 50mm lens) – it shows only about 85% of negative on infinity (100% on 0.7 meters, but on infinity problem comes). As I shot B&W only, and print full negative frame with black border – I want to have 100% of negative inside of lines on infinity also, to be precise as possible.

I must interpolate – but question is on which way to do it? Please take a look on attached screenshot – in which way I should interpolate missing 15% of frame?

Also one question about Bessa R3A – do they have same problem – or viewfinder is more precise with 50mm on infinity?

And if someone knows some external viewfinder that will be absolutely precise with 50mm lines on infinity – it is also acceptable for me.

Thanks,

[Rol_Lei Nut]

I answered your previous question about external viewfinders saying that the Soviet multifocal finder has a smaller and darker 50mm "virtual image" than the M6's viewfinder.

It does however visibly cover more area than the M6's at infinity, so it might be better for getting close to 100% coverage.
They should be pretty common and easy to find in PL. Maybe a shop could let you take some test shots with one...


P.S. I actually want to sell one of mine (shipping from Germany), but try to do a test with one first to see if it has the coverage you want.

[jochen]

Hello,
sorry for my answer, but if you want to have the full control over the whole range of all focussing distances, you should take a SLR. But not every SLR brings exactly 100 % of what you see in the viewfinder to the negative. Examples which do that are e.g. the NIKON F 2, F 3 and F 4. The M 6 is a phantastic piece of precise German workmanship, but for your expectations it is not the best tool.

[MaximusM3]

FWIW, I always find the Imarect finders to be more accurate in terms of framing. I have tested on M3, M4, and even the M9. Obviously, you would have to test it with your equipment but it's worth a shot.

[darkosaric]

Thank you all for answers. Actually I have nikon F3, I have 2 of them - they are that good and perfect for my needs. But I have also luck to be able to afford Leica and summicron - and it is better than nikon in terms of shooting people on the street: people are not afraid when I point Leica in their face, but with F3 - they are .

I will do the testing over weekend and also try to look for Imarect finders.

[budrichard]

Certainly agree with the above, you are expecting something the M or any rangefinder system will not do. The M is designed to capture more than the viewfinder shows, the addition of external finders will probably not result in any better framing, will make focusing and shooting take more time as you switch from focusing to external finder.-Dick

[sandholm]

sorry, but the only answer is, live with it

personal i use external view finders to do the framing (if I have time) and of course focus using the standard viewfinder. I like this approach because i use the same method on both my M7 and M9, the down side is that you cant do it inside using a flash...

Leica M is a good camera, but definitiv not perfect, I see it more as a way of shooting then the ultimate tool (for that I have my H2

cheers

[elekm]

I agree with the others. If you want precise framing, you should select an SLR.

The rangefinder has many advantages, but I don't think precise framing is one of them. Early rangefinders don't even have framelines, which makes framing even less precise, depending on where you place your eye.

[Vilk]

...people are not afraid when I point Leica in their face, but with F3 - they are

are you suuuuuuuuuuure? at me they smile, at most. motorized F2 bricks only. actually, sold the M recently, when i realized the "street advantage" was all in my head

[darkosaric]

It is not about rangefinder vs SLR – it is about Leica having bad 50mm lines in viewfinder.

I have seen some Yashica rangefinders (I think it was Lynks 14) that had this problem better solved: upper and left line was moving away from bottom and right line while focusing to infinity - I was expecting that Leica has more precise viewfinder than Yashica (better than any rangefinder camera in this matter).

Also I see on rangefinderforum that other people were disappointed with M6 and 50mm combination:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=62058

“50mm M6 frameline only shows you 64% of what you will see on the film“ – it is not acceptable – and it is not about rangefinder vs SLR. It is about M6 – it is unusable with 50mm if you want to print full frame.

For some reason my email is blocked on that site and I can not register on rangefinderforum– so I can not see attachment Frame line % for ZI.jpg (can someone who has login there take a look and attach it here or send it to me on email? Thanks .

Also I see that solution for my problem is to get 40mm lens and use 35mm lines. I will go and look for nokton or summicron 40mm.