Question about leica 21 and M8

[reven]

Now as fas as I know the M8 is limited to 24mm in the view finder. The angle of the 21 is larger than on the view finder. Is that correct so far ?

Now if that's the case what is the best way to go ? The Leica Viewfinder fo 21/24/28 mm lenses or the Leica UNIVERSAL WIDE-ANGLE Viewfinder ? Ar there other possibilities ?

I'm not sure if I overread it in sean's review, but he took quite some shots with the Zeiss and Leica 21.

Thanks.

[ken_tanaka]

I don't own an M8 but have used an M7 with the 21mm for some time. I've been using a Voigtlander viewfinder with that lens. It's less expensive than Leica's and, in a side-by-side comparison, offers identical performance and construction.

The new multi-focal length viewfinder would be handy only if you expected to buy another lens within that range.

FWIW, in a faster moving situation I often don't mount the 21mm viewfinder at all. I have a 0.58 viewfinder on my M7 which offers perhaps 80%-85% coverage (edge-to-edge) of the 21mm. So a little bit off pan and tilt quickly tells me what will be inside the frame.

[glenerrolrd]

Originally Posted by reven

Now as fas as I know the M8 is limited to 24mm in the view finder. The angle of the 21 is larger than on the view finder. Is that correct so far ?

Now if that's the case what is the best way to go ? The Leica Viewfinder fo 21/24/28 mm lenses or the Leica UNIVERSAL WIDE-ANGLE Viewfinder ? Ar there other possibilities ?

I'm not sure if I overread it in sean's review, but he took quite some shots with the Zeiss and Leica 21.

Thanks.

You will need a 28mm finder to match the coverage of the 21mm/M8. Plenty of alternatives ..check Camerquest.com for some. I plan on using my Leica 28mm finder because I already have it. The 24mm frame is right to the edge so you can go without the aux finder for 21 but you will lose the precise framing .

[jrc]

I put my M8 on a tripod with my Leica 21mm, so I could hold it steady, take a shot with known parallels, and examine the situation. (I put the edges of some windows right at the edges of the viewfinder.) With my eye held quite close to the viewfinder, I found that the whole field across the viewfinder is fairly close to 21. You couldn't hold it that close to your eye during normal handheld shooting, but even handheld, you can get a pretty good sense of what will be in the photo by looking at the full view. A little practice would help, and a dedicated viewfinder would certainly be more comfortable and probably more precise (although, depending on how far you are from your subject, a photo generally takes in 10-15% more than the bright lines show. In other words, the lines in the finder are not precise anyway -- you get more than you frame.)

JC

[reven]

Thanks a lot.

[marknorton]

I use the existing 21/24/28 finder set to 28. Works fine.

[j. borger]

Without external finder there is too much guessing involved for me ...it works with my 28mm external finder but i do not like external finders ... so i highly doubt i will keep my 21 elmarit asph because it gets little to no use here!

[steve_l]

An "advantage" of external finders:

with the old three line (but continuously variable) finder (21/24/28), you can select whatever magnification will give you a complete field of fiew at whatever distance you are focused at.

the new finder is a constant magnification, but you can still select different framelines as desired - e.g., use the 24 frame for the 28 lens