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Best solution for shooting with 75mm lens?


mxa

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Hello Marco,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

There are a number of independent Leitz/Leica repair people in a number of places around the World (Including Germany) who may be able to do this for you.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

 

Excellent point. I will start looking for a good repair guy right away.

 

In the past few days I read a lot about other people's experiences with the 75mm framelines and - most important - I used my M6 0.72 with the 75mm frame.  Well, it sucks. I understand that some people get used to the 75mm framelines, but unfortunately it's not going to be me. Somehow I must get rid of those 50mm framelines. They are too distracting.

 

Cheers

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I believe that Don Goldberg in the USA can remove the 50mm lines & keep the 75mm frame.  Contact him at www.dagcamera.com.

 

Don converted my M3 to Motor drive & M4 loading.  He is a wizard with Leica cameras.

 

Thank you for the info, but I need to find someone within the EU. Shipping costs between the US and Europe have gone out of whack in recent years and the paperwork with custom - to demonstrate that whatever is coming back to Germany did in fact originate in Germany and is therefore not subject to custom+VAT etc  - is a major nuisance.

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Consider keeping the 50 frames for photographs taken near infinity. The 75 frames reflect a photograph taken at .7 meters when using slide film.

 

As an aside, I found it odd that the even less of a 75 frame on the M-A makes the 50 frames less distracting than the ones that used to be on my M6 0.85x. Perhaps that's because there are so many detached notches going in all sorts of directions. I think Leica was wise to make that change. Perhaps they could replace your M6's 50/75 frames with the M-A's if you found that to be true for you, too, since they won't mask them.

Edited by d.sge
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The technical best (off the shelf) solution is to use a 0.85 finder Leica MP or later M7, with the later improved finder.

Equally as good of course would be a 0.85 finder in a M6 or M6TTL body which has been upgraded with the finder fix of later MP + M7.

 

Now that this is out of the way, here is the thing about the 75mm frame:

 

… it's all just in your head, really!

 

I used a 75 after having not used one for years and I kept confusing the frame lines, subconsciously always swaying back to use the 50mm frames instead, not framing right, …

After having used that 75mm for a while though the brain simply adjusts and any finder with 75mm frame lines will work just fine. It really is just a head thing.

 

Technically the aforementioned cameras will make it easier though.

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I have been just told by someone whom I consider to be extremely knowledgeable in anything Leica that I can solve my problem by simply buying an M3 and using the 1.4x viewfinder magnifier. What I would see in the finder is - give or take a few degrees (but we are talking rf photography, right? :) ) - the 75mm field (and the 50mm frameline , the only one on an M3 - would also pretty much disappear).

 

Comments, anyone? Does someone have an M3 and a 1.4x magnifier to experiment this hypotheses? That would be swell.

 

Cheers

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Comments, anyone? Does someone have an M3 and a 1.4x magnifier to experiment this hypotheses? That would be swell.

 

 

Do you want to see a 75 frame, or a fuzzy black circle in the foreground? 

 

Edit: I tried something comparable with a different focal length a ways back. It was great to cure boredom when I didn't feel like leaving the house, but ultimately a waste of time. If anything, try a 1.4x magnifier on your .72x M6 before switching up cameras. That'll get the 50mm frame right up to the edge of the aforementioned fuzzy black circle, which may make ignoring it easier (I say this as a left-eyed photographer who doesn't wear glasses). The magnifiers, I've found, sell fairly well on the used market, and quickly.

Edited by d.sge
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Do you want to see a 75 frame, or a fuzzy black circle in the foreground? 

 

 

You are right. I tried the Leica m3 with the 1.4x magnifier on and - yes - the 50mm frame pretty much disappears. But I am left with "a fuzzy circle in the foreground" where I can neither say "whatever I see is within the 75mm field" nor "here is the frame" (which does not exist, of course). I am not saying that it won't be a solution, but for sure it won't be a solution for me.

 

I tried today my M6 0.72 with the 1.4x magnifier on and the situation vastly improves compared to that without the magnifier. Yes, the 50mm frame lines still bug me, but I believe it can be managed. You can see the 75mm frame lines much more easily and naturally than without the magnifier. The lower right corner is occupied by the front part of the 75mm lens though (and it is the f/2 model, not the humongous f/1.4!). This makes me wonder that maybe, I say maybe, going 0.85 will further push the 50mm frame lines to the edges of the finder (good) at the expense though of more intrusion of the lens inside the 75mm framelines.

 

Has anybody tried the 75mm Summicron on a Leica 0.85 with the 1.4x magnifier? I would be interested in knowing how much the lens intrude in the 75mm frame lines (bottom-right portion).

 

Summary: the best solution for me is to use a 1.4x magnifier on a 0.72 or on a 0.85 (yet to be tried). At least I have reduced the complexity space to either Solution A or Solution B. :)

 

Thanks for following me in this long thread, I hope it can be useful to other people and not a complete bore.

 

Cheers

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  • 10 months later...

I resurrect this thread to report an interesting finding.

 

I shot thus far with the Summicron 75mm, a .72x M6TTL and a 1.4x magnifier. It's ok, not really pleasant, but it works.

 

Today I installed the angle viewfinder M (12531) on my M6 with the 75mm. The 75mm frame can be seen with great ease, the 50mm frame is severely cropped. So the eye naturally focuses on the 75mm frame :-)

 

I recommend to those of you who find it hard to use the 75mm focal length and have a .72x M camera to try the angle viewfinder. I personally do not mind shooting at 45 degrees, so the angle viewfinder has become an excellent alternative.

 

Cheers

Edited by mxa
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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Voigtlander 75mm viewfinder  (shop.CameraQuest.com)

 

I have the Summilux 75 and agree that this is a lovely focal length. Voigtlander makes 75 mm bright line viewfinder in black and chrome for a reasonable price. I have one that I don't use much, but when I do, I find it to be an excellent  aid for undistracted  framing, or to work in dimmer light. You still have to focus in the rangefinder, but unless you're doing somethgin very fast moving, it's usually not a limit. If you get one, try it out on non-critical shots to get a feeling for the parallax cut off at close focus. 

 

In general I like these viewfinder accessories. I've used one a lot for 28mm, and also like the 50. Now that I have an M 240, I use Live View more, but I find the refresh rate a bit sluggish:  the viewfinder allows you to work more quickly for anything that is moving about. 

 

Good luck!

 

JM

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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