Type 246 and EVF/LV

[stump4545]

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I dont think I will use the EVF and LV on my new 246.

 

But people say at times, the EVF and LV comes in handy

 

In what circumstances (besides using wide angle lenses for composition with the EVF) does the EVF/LV become useful over the optical viewfinder?

 

 

 

[jaapv]

Any situation that would have called for a Visoflex in the past, and any situation that you don't want to carry a secondary DSLR or EVIL system. As a travel camera, for instance, it is really nice to carry an Olympus Zuiko 75-150 in your bag instead a  number of long lenses for those tele shots you might want to take, if you have a few days in a National Park on a longer journey through a country, carry just one long lens extra instead of a complete Nilon DSLR system, if you run into a scene that calls for a moving image, you have the option to supplement your captures with a video clip, etc

 

People are highly critical of these features, but they forget that they are not meant to compete with specialist cameras.

They are meant to make the M,  be it 240 or 246, a more versatile tool when used in its given context of a reportage camera. As such it succeeds admirably.

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[DirkB17]

For example when focussing my Canon FD 135 on my Leica M240.

[stump4545]

So besides using wide angle lenses for composition, and besides focusing long tele lenses, are their any other circumstances where the EVF is better then the optical VF?

[jaapv]

Macro?

[Giulio Zanni]

If you shoot landscape live view is priceless, you can frame accurately and avoid using the stupid viewfinders with wide-angles. Also the EVF combined with focus peaking makes for accurate focus if you want to shoot wide open. Me personally, I wouldn't have come back to Leica without live view.

[Jeff S]

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Even if one never uses LV for shooting 'real' pics, it comes in handy for quick focus calibration checks (comparing RF to LV, which is what the sensor actually 'sees')...a handy tool in the age of digital Ms.

 

Jeff

[stump4545]

does anyone use LV and focus peaking on the LCD Screen on back of the camera to take "real" photos, or are we always speaking of LV and Focus Peaking through the EVF?

[rpittal]

I really like the EVF for low(er) to the ground shots; also no worries about focus shift on lenses

Bob

[jaapv]

I use LV when shooting from a tripod; on all lenses. It saves the acrobatics of peering through the viewfinder.

[Bill Livingston]

[250swb]

does anyone use LV and focus peaking on the LCD Screen on back of the camera to take "real" photos, or are we always speaking of LV and Focus Peaking through the EVF?

 

I use my M246 on a tripod a lot of the time and use LV all the time when I do.

 

It's mostly landscape, so being able to use focus peaking for tele lenses is ideal, being able to use a 21mm without an extra viewfinder is ideal, and being able to use other manufacturers lenses is ideal. But those aren't the main advantages. Coming from a large format landscape background my working method is to see the potential in a scene, set the camera up, then try to perfect what I see. So it may mean waiting for the light to change, a cloud to move, the wind to die. Or it may mean leaving the camera and walking around thinking about the image I'm trying to make, should it be a long exposure, or short, wide aperture or small etc.. And then when it comes to making the exposure I can stand back and look at live view screen and the scene at the same time as I press the cable release. Photography doesn't have to be about grabbing images, and LV allows a longer considered approach just like using a large format camera, and far better than squinting through a fogged up viewfinder.

[Giulio Zanni]

I use my M246 on a tripod a lot of the time and use LV all the time when I do.

 

It's mostly landscape, so being able to use focus peaking for tele lenses is ideal, being able to use a 21mm without an extra viewfinder is ideal, and being able to use other manufacturers lenses is ideal. But those aren't the main advantages. Coming from a large format landscape background my working method is to see the potential in a scene, set the camera up, then try to perfect what I see. So it may mean waiting for the light to change, a cloud to move, the wind to die. Or it may mean leaving the camera and walking around thinking about the image I'm trying to make, should it be a long exposure, or short, wide aperture or small etc.. And then when it comes to making the exposure I can stand back and look at live view screen and the scene at the same time as I press the cable release. Photography doesn't have to be about grabbing images, and LV allows a longer considered approach just like using a large format camera, and far better than squinting through a fogged up viewfinder.

 

 

I couldn't have said it better

[CheshireCat]

What has Live View ever done for us ?

 

- Use interesting lenses not coupled with the RF.

- Perfectly frame and compose with ultra wides or macro.

- Shoot in very low light where the RF is difficult to use.

- Evaluate DoF.

- Achieve critical focus when needed.

- Use lenses that have "focus shift" by design.

- Evaluate used lenses correctly, and see if they are out of calibration with respect to the RF, so I don't get a lemon.

- ...

Edited February 23, 2016 by CheshireCat

[Bill Livingston]

Thanks...!!! 

 

(I might keep that link for every time someone complains about something THEY don't use, but others find invaluable... or when they are criticised for not producing exactly what each individual user wants.

 

Leica are actually pretty good at responding to the needs of a large number of photographers... I think we tend to get a very narrow, more traditional group of Leica users here... who are all pretty opinionated!)

 

I count myself in of course... maybe not quite so traditionally minded, but I'm certainly opinionated!

Edited February 23, 2016 by Bill Livingston

[Giulio Zanni]

I think that if the Leica want to apply to a wide range of shooters and not just those aiming at shooting wired people in the street or their cats, can not avoid "modern" and wide spread solutions. I think that my type 246 are very good for Leica and today's standards. I really hope that the new M will introduce improvement at the viewfinder level i.e. EVF and that it will be translated into the next generation of monochrom. I was shooting Leica at the time of film, then with digital I shot Canon, Nikon, Sony and Hasselblad. The type 246 convinced me it was time to come back, but I would not be ready to go backwards. 

[Bill Livingston]

I guess you meant 'weird' and not 'wired' people in the street.

 

Although I suppose, it could be both...

[Giulio Zanni]

I guess you meant 'weird' and not 'wired' people in the street.

 

Although I suppose, it could be both...

 

 

Yes sorry for typo :-)

[Bill Livingston]

 

It was a good typo though!

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[Joshua Lowe]

EVF/LV is handy when:

Using lenses wider than 28mm.

Using adapted zoom lenses.

Using the camera for macro photography.

Using 75, 90, and 135mm lenses.

Using the camera at low or odd angles and you want to check your horizon and framing.

 

The lag is the only thing I don't like about it.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Joshua Lowe