Jump to content

Question about M3 "tits" in the viewfinder


Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Do the "tits" in the viewfinder, the top of which indicating the range within focus at f16 and the bottom indicating the range within focus at f5.6, only apply to a 50mm lens? Or, do the "tits" adjust with the frame-lines as different focal length lenses are attached? My guess is the latter but I haven't performed a controlled experiment to find out and thought I'd try a shortcut by asking here. Thanks in advance, Adam

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello Adam,

 

The "notches" in the rangefinder patch are for any 50mm lens.

 

With a shorter focal length they represent a larger F stop top & bottom.

 

With a longer focal length they represent smaller lens openings top & bottom.

 

I have never seen anything from Leitz correlating them with anything other than a 50mm lens.

 

You might try measuring for yourself if you have a specific focal length or specific focal lengths in mind.

 

When I went to do this with other focal lengths years ago I realized that, for me, it wasn't worth the bother.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks, Michael and Bill.

 

Michael - This confirms my theory that as a practical matter they are useful (if at all) only one a 50mm.

 

Bill - I can confirm that my M3 indeed has tits. Could be that I have a female version. I have no idea if there is a male version. :D

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Michael, that's very interesting, thanks. Mine has a 1.1M serial # so that would make sense.

 

It is a fascinating piece of engineering and design. I just am curious as to why it wasn't continued in later models (beyond the M2)....

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

...

It is a fascinating piece of engineering and design. I just am curious as to why it wasn't continued in later models (beyond the M2)....

 

I'm with you on that... I actually use it on my M2.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

 

Sent from another Galaxy

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Earl - thanks for your comment. The tits are much narrower than the hyperfocal "zone" focusing displayed on the lens itself. This leads me to believe that the tighter range of the tits represent a range of focus that is much sharper than the hyperfocus range that the lens provides. For example, at F16 with a 50mm the lens says that focused at about 20 feet everything between 9 feet or so and infiniti are in reasonably sharp focus. The tits at F16 reflect a much narrower range.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Focus on the desired part of your subject, then shift the view so another part you wish to be sharp is aligned with the square representing the f-stop used. If the overlap of the rangefinder images are no more than the width of that box that area will appear sharp.

The smaller one may also be useful in evaluating focus shift, once you test enough to know how much overlap represents the shift as you stop down, the smaller square can be a useful reference.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

To further explain, the "tit" that sticks out from the top of the middle of the focus patch is meant to reflect the range within which the image is in sharp focus at f16. The bottom "tit", which sticks out to the bottom of the focus patch, is narrower and is intended to reflect the range within which the image will be in sharp focus using f5.6.

 

At these two select apertures, rather than needing to have the focus patch exactly overlapping, there is a range of non-overlapping tolerance within the width of the big top tit (for f16) and smaller bottom tit (for f5.6) within which the image will still be in sharp focus (as opposed to "reasonably sharp").

 

A quick example of how this can come in handy. Today I was on a sunny turf field watching my boys play flag football. I had my 50mm lens and M3 and was taking action pictures of them. Rather than simply setting the aperture to F16 (it was very sunny and the bright green turf had a turbo charge effect on the light) and pre-setting the focus ring at just under 20 feet so that everything from 9 or so feet to infinity was in a reasonable focus, I was able to determine that the farthest point in the field that I would ever want to focus was within the range of the top tit. So I was able to tighten the focus range, which should in theory give me sharper results.

 

My guess is that this may have been the type of situation that the Leica engineers had in mind when designing these tits.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...