Anyone else find that the magnifier makes it harder to focus?

[Julian Thompson]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am finding, contrary to what I had expected, that using the 1.4 magnifier makes it actually more difficult to focus sometimes.

 

Although the RF patch is bigger the contrast across it seems less - and therefore I am actually not appearing to gain any benefit from using the magnifier.

 

I absolutely love being able to shoot with both eyes wide open - a 1 to 1 ratio - but the focus issue is very surprising to me.

 

Anyone else noticed this?

[glenerrolrd]

I am finding, contrary to what I had expected, that using the 1.4 magnifier makes it actually more difficult to focus sometimes.

 

Although the RF patch is bigger the contrast across it seems less - and therefore I am actually not appearing to gain any benefit from using the magnifier.

 

I absolutely love being able to shoot with both eyes wide open - a 1 to 1 ratio - but the focus issue is very surprising to me.

 

Anyone else noticed this?

 

Both the magnifiers(1.25x and 1.4x) reduce the contrast of the focusing patch. In low light ..like in night shooting...you can reach an inflection point where contrast is more important than magnifications. particularly in the longer lenses like the 135apo you may need the magnifier to see the very small adjustments needed to focus at intermediate distances. Try a long lens at 30M both with and without the magnifier. For calibration you can even stack the magnifiers to achieve critical focus.

 

With wideangles ..in low light ..I would agree ..I prefer no magnifier at night with lenses wider than 35mm.

 

I do find that when using the magnifiers ..I have to keep the rangefinder and the eye piece spotless to keep the contrast high enough. The right diopter is also important.

[Knorp]

I am finding, contrary to what I had expected, that using the 1.4 magnifier makes it actually more difficult to focus sometimes.

 

Although the RF patch is bigger the contrast across it seems less - and therefore I am actually not appearing to gain any benefit from using the magnifier.

 

I absolutely love being able to shoot with both eyes wide open - a 1 to 1 ratio - but the focus issue is very surprising to me.

 

Anyone else noticed this?

 

Yes, I too found the 1.4x less helpful than the 1.25x.

In bright light it's fine but in dim light I'm not so sure.

 

Kind regards.

[doug_m]

I find that the 1.4 magnifier makes it easier to focus with 50mm and longer lenses. I do not use it much but find it to be much better than the 1.25.

[treeplanter]

I don't own an M9 but use the 1.4 viewfinder full-time whenever I use my 75mm Summilux and 90mm Elmarit-M on my MP. I find it very helpful with focusing, especially with the 75mm.

 

Jim B.

[michali]

I found the same with the 1.5 diopter, it's much more difficult to focus in low light situations.

[chris_tribble]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

There's a second issue with diopter users. a) there's all the hassle of taking it off the body and screwing it back onto the magnifier, and with the magnification I find I need a DIFFERENT diopter strength). I've pretty well given up with the magnifier now (I have the x1.4) - the critical thing for me is having the right diopter on the body (and all the lenses clean...).

[ArtZ]

With a magnifyer the position of your eye is very important: it must be really on the center. If there's an angle of view other than 90", you may see the rangefinder correctly aligned but the image will be out of focus.

 

As I need +1.5 diopter correction, I gave up Leica magnifyer 1.25x because it's a real pain to remove the correction from the magnifyer (sometimes the rear partof the magnifyer get unscrewed) and it's very easy to lose it if you don't screw it firmly.

 

My favorite magnifyer is Megapearls 1.15x. When I need more magnification (rarely) I use the Megapearls 1.35x. Both have dioptric correction built-in.

[The_hog]

Re: ArtZ

 

Would the 1,25 Megaperl perhaps be the perfect one as a compromise between the 1,15 and the 1,35 ?

Kind of "Best of both worlds" solution.

Regards

Arni

[Leicaiste]

I am finding, contrary to what I had expected, that using the 1.4 magnifier makes it actually more difficult to focus sometimes.

 

Anyone else noticed this?

 

Yes, the 1,25X and 1,4X from Leica are making the rangefinder patch fuzzy for me.

 

That is why the MS-MAG x1.15 magnifier with stepless variable diopter adjustment facility (-3.0 ~ +1.0) for Leica M from japan exposures stays on the camera 99%.

 

japan exposures | films and more (formerly Megaperls Japan Webshop)

 

It works for me.

 

Lucien

[Julian Thompson]

Thanks for the feedback - I think the 1.4x is going to be reserved for use with my 135 :-)

 

Cheers

 

Julian

[35mmSummicron]

I used to have a Leica 1.25x magnifier when I had a 50mm 1.0 Noctilux.

 

I found it wasnt so much that it was harder to focus, but more it was uncomfortable to put my eye put to it cuz it stuck out. Not quite stabbing you in the eye, but not comfortable.

 

Luckily I am young and have good eyesight so I learned to focus F/1.0 without one just fine.

 

.a