18mm f3.8 Angle of view.

[K B Manley]

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A Good Day to all.

Please treat this first foray into the Forum as a newcomers wish to learn.

My 18mm f3.8lens is fine but I am getting bored with using my left eye to use the M8 camera Case to act as guidelines for composition and my right to centralise the shot and to focus. There used to be a cheap gizmo to help with this problem but I can no longer find it and I cannot yet afford a Universal Angle of View magnifier Any comments please?

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[ho_co]

Welcome to the forum, KB!

 

I don't follow the question, particularly why you ask about using two eyes.

 

1) Normally, one focuses with the camera's range-viewfinder using whichever eye one wants. Or, with a lens as wide as this, zone focusing may be accurate enough--setting, say 3m distance and not worrying about exact focus for each shot.

 

2) Then, using whichever eye one wants (usually the same as used in step 1), one frames using an external finder.

 

3) Then one snaps the picture.

 

 

With a lens as wide as the 18mm, some people find it easy enough to just guess the coverage, and don't use the external finder.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the 'gizmo' you refer to basically worked the same way. You trained yourself to hold the camera a certain distance from your eye with the 'gizmo' in the accessory shoe, and if you guessed the distance right, it sort of gave you what you expected.

 

 

On the M8, the 18mm gives the field of view of a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera. So if you want to buy a finder, you could buy the Universal Finder as you said, but it covers a number of focal lengths and might be overkill if you're only using it with the 18.

 

You could get the 24mm finder made for the D-Lux 4, or the 24mm finder made for the M cameras. You could get the Zeiss 25mm finder, or the 24mm finder Panasonic made for the LX3, or follow any number of options, including buying any of the finders used.

 

 

I hope that's of some help. I'm sorry it has taken so long to get a response, but maybe we were all just a little unsure of what you were asking. Maybe if I've missed the point you're making, my meanderings may help you to give us more direction!

 

I know someone will be able to respond with what you're interested in.

[K B Manley]

Thank you Ho_Co, yours was a kind and very useful reply, and I will follow up on the external viewfinders for 24mm, which I assume fit on the flash shoe.

However what I was really trying to trace were the plastic coated wire gizmos that simply clipped on the outside of the Lens barrel and gave an approximate guide as to the perimeter of view for each Lens size. They were cheap, light and easy to carry with the Camera. But I suspect they are no longer available,

However if you have never tried it, the next time you use an exra wide lens such as the 18mm, use your right eye to set things up and then with the camera in the same position

open your left eye. The shoulders of the camera then give an approximate outline of the field of view for that lens corrected for the M8. ( Or am I mistaken?)

Thank you again for your helpful reply. KB

[wstotler]

The shoulders of the camera then give an approximate outline of the field of view for that lens corrected for the M8. ( Or am I mistaken?)

Thank you again for your helpful reply. KB

 

Interesting idea that I haven't seen before.

 

I just tested your theory with Leica's 24mm viewfinder (I use this with my 18mm--see the P.S. below for details).

 

IF you bring the camera to your eye, focus through the viewfinder, and then lift your eye so it's just peering over the top plate:

 

* To the left, the center of the very fuzzy (because it's so close to your eye) rounded left edge roughly marks the left edge of the 18mm's field of view. Hard to get an exact "in" and "out" point--the left side is more an average of "in the rough middle" of the fuzzy area.

 

* To the right, the left-hand side (facing the hotshoe) of the power-switch roughly marks the right edge of the 18mm's field of view.

 

The downside to this method is that you can't determine the top or bottom of the frame except by guessing.

 

I can also say that in a pinch this might work--and I'm sure going to remember the trick. But, being able to frame by the bright framelines inside a finder is needed for accuracy, which you know. Is it worth the $$$? I would say "yes" unless you want to guess. (Rhyming unintentional.)

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Cheers!

Will

 

P.S. Point of clarification--I have the newest Leica 24mm finder, which is great for framing the 18mm on the M8 using the outer lines. The newest Leica 18mm finder will work FF (outer lines) and on the M8 (inner lines). I like the 24mm's outer lines for framing and then the inner frames for keeping my subject away from the edges, when that matters--similar to a "safe" zone when shooting video. Yeah, yeah, a personal quirk. But perhaps something to consider.

[tobey bilek]

Just make a cut out in a cardboard. It board then has to be fixed a certain distance from your eye to get the correct angle of view. Tape some thread to show the location of the RF patch or 50 mm frame lines that should be where the lines or patch go in the camera.

 

This is not a great solution and you are better off with a proper finder. Maybe a 28mm for full frame from CV, Camera Quest. Perhaps not the best finders, but better than nothing.

[ho_co]

Thanks, KB.

 

My brain didn't make it through your or Will's instructions, unfortunately, but clearly you've got more tricks up your sleeve than I.

 

... However what I was really trying to trace were the plastic coated wire gizmos that simply clipped on the outside of the Lens barrel and gave an approximate guide as to the perimeter of view for each Lens size. They were cheap, light and easy to carry with the Camera. But I suspect they are no longer available....

 

That's what I thought. I also found the "one-size fits all" idea interesting until I realized that if I need to memorize how far my eye should be from the 'stick' part of the sight for each different lens, I'd be just as confused as I am now after your explanations of what you're currently doing.

 

I hope you can find one of those thingies, because I bet you would learn to work it in two seconds. Good luck and do let us know.

[ramosa]

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I have the 18 and use the external finder. Without, I think framing would be quite sloppy.

[luigi bertolotti]

Just a question... do you mean devices like this, with the frame attached to lens'front ring ? They were usually referred to as "Sport Finders"...

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Leitz made them lot of years ago... little masterpieces as always, but not for Wideangles...

[ho_co]

Luigi, I think so.

 

I saw an ad within the past year (print? Web?) for something similar, except that it may have had only two sides of a rectangle at the front (no top part), and instead of a hole to look through, it had a stick with a ball atop it, centered in the implied rectangle. Rather like a primitive rifle sight, maybe.

 

The idea was that it was universally applicable; you simply moved your eye closer or further to accommodate various wide focal lengths.

 

Dunno for sure. Maybe KB had something else in mind. Your images are on target.

[blakley]

I saw an ad within the past year (print? Web?) for something similar, except that it may have had only two sides of a rectangle at the front (no top part), and instead of a hole to look through, it had a stick with a ball atop it, centered in the implied rectangle. Rather like a primitive rifle sight, maybe.

 

I believe you're thinking of the Ikodot: take a look

[ho_co]

I believe you're thinking of the Ikodot: take a look

Bravo, blakley!

 

KB! He's got it!!! I think the link is to the "cheap gizmo" you mentioned.

 

 

I love the stages listed--

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"take a look" is fine

"frame a shot" is great

"contact" that ball with your pupil while trying to see a 12mm full-frame view might be less advantageous

[luigi bertolotti]

I may be wrong... but seem to remember a lens-attached frame onto a Koni Omega...

Funny the Ikodot !!! But I suppose it hadn't a big success... that small balls don't sound so good...

[ho_co]

... that small balls don't sound so good...

 

Maybe it's a good way for Leica chicks to meet guys?

 

I mean, the girl puts the Ikodot on her camera and waits for the conversation to start...