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Info on magnifiters


Giorgio Festa

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A magnifier is totally useless for a 28 and will make it even more difficult to see the frame lines. If you want to see them better you will need to shoot without your glasses and use a dioptre. But do you want to do that? It means you will forever be taking off and putting on your spectacles.

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Online I have found this one...0 85X Viewfinder for Leica M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9P 28mm 35mm Wide Angle Len Silver | eBay

 

Is it what I need?

Which is the ratio of The m9, 0,72?

This is a minifier. It may help you to see the framelines more easily, but it will make the rangefinder less accurate. That is not too bad for a 28 but you will need to take it off for longer lenses. So you will be screwing on and off.

A dioptre is a little lens by Leica that adapts the viewfinder to your eye strength. If you search the forum for '"dioptre" and "diopter" you will find dozens of threads on the subject.

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If you look through the viewfinder without your glasses you will be trying to line up 2 very blurry images in the rangefinder patch. This is also what would happen with the minifier.

 

It's a good idea to visit a leica dealer and try out diopters until you find the one which makes the rangefinder patch view as sharp as possible and then buy that one. I would not be without mine and I only needed half the small adjustment that my glasses normally make.

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Thank you. But does it mean I have to wear the glasses off everytime I take a shot? I am not sure I understand correnctly...

The dioptric correction helps only to see images clear in the viewfinder with the minifier and my glasses on. Right?

Will this correction create problems if I shoot with a different focal length w/o minifier? Sorry to bother...

Thank you

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If you want to see the viewfinder and rangefinder properly you have three options:

 

1. Wear suitable spectacles. Drawback: You may have problems seeing the 28 mm framelines and/or scratch your glasses.

 

2. Use a Leica diopter correction lens for the viewfinder. This must be fitted according to your eyesight and will not work if you have astigmatism. Drawback: You must remove your spectacles to look through the viewfinder. But you will see all framelines properly.

 

3. Order a WalterrXeyepiece ( Walter RX Leica M rangefinder astigmatism rotating eyepiece | Leica M9 M9-P astigmatism rotating eyepiece diopter correction lens, fits rangefinder M8 digital M7 M6 M5 M4 M3 M2 leitz analog cameras. ). They will need your prescription. Again, it will make you take off your glasses, but it is otherwise an ideal solution. Buy a spectacles chain to hang them around your neck;).

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I tried the 0.85 - useless for exactly your application. Just added a layer of inaccuracy.

 

Better to worry about focus and frame accurately in PP afterwards

 

Glasses are a necessary nuisance to me too - oh well...

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I wore glasses until about 2 months ago when I had cataract surgery and my vision was restored to better than 20/20. I was looking forward to buying and using a 28 mm lens but soon found that even without glasses the 28 mm frame was difficult and uncomfortable to use - especially indoors. And so my 35 Summicron remains my first choice in medium wide glass.

 

You may want to try an external 28 mm viewfinder, set your lens at 5.6 and zone focus. This makes 28 mm composition a pleasure with or without glasses.

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