MP viewfinder advice - I'm new to film!

[ziggy]

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I will purchase a New or Mint MP . . . but which viewfinder?

 

The focal lengths I am interested in are: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm. After I have used those three focal lengths for some time, perhaps one  will be my go to lens 80% of the time (I am a relative newbie) as I am sure has been the situation with many of you.

 

Which MP viewfinder should I get - the .72 or .85 . . . considering, at this that I do not know which focal length will be my go to lens?

 

So, regarding those three focal lengths, could you please give me the pros and cons of the .72 and .85 in relation to each lens?

 

Many thanks,

ziggy

[menos I M6]

For 28mm, 35mm, 50mm lenses, the most versatile finder is the standard 0.72 finder which will display all three focal lengths and will work best with the 35mm and 50mm.

 

If you wear glasses, use the 28mm a lot and use a rather slow 50mm, a 0.58 finder might be an even better choice.

 

 

A 0.85 finder is not a good choice if you want to use your mentioned three focal lengths. It will be great for the 50mm, just about useful for the 35 (if you don't wear glasses) and you will need an external 28mm finder for your 28mm.

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[Guest]

Will it be your first M-Leica?

[Fotoklaus]

0.72. With a 28mm lens you will hardly see the outer framelines. With 0.85 the same at 35mm, so I think a 0.85 finder

is not a good choice for you.

I use a 0.72 in my M2/M4/M6 and it's a joy to use it with a 35mm-lens.

[ziggy]

Thanks so much . . . One important thing I forgot to mention . . .

 

I    d o   w e a r   g l a s s e s   ! ! !

 

Does this change your advice?

 

. . . And yes, this will be my first Leica M - but I do want the black paint MP - just love the weight and feel of it in my hand!

 

ziggy

[Guest]

Glasses - 0.58 version imo. Otherwise no chance for the 28mm and no comfort for the 35mm.

Since it is your first: please don't let people talk you into M-A

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. . . I agree, the MA doesn't appeal to me at all.

 

ziggy

[ziggy]

How will the .58 be with a 50mm. The 50mm I was thinking of is the Noctilux 1.0 - Early '80s E60 bayonet hood, not plastic.

[farnz]

With a Noctilux, a .58 will make focussing accurately wide open quite a challenge.  If you're planning to shoot the Noctilux wide open (and let's face it what's the point of carrying a heavy lens like that if not to use it wide open?) you'd be better off with the 0.72 finder but this will make using a 28 mm with glasses awkward.  There is no easy answer (unless your bank manager can run to two MPs ) and you might like to take into account if you ever decide to sell your MP, which will be easier with .72 finder although you might get a little more for a MP with .58 but you might have to wait a little longer.

 

Perhaps another thing to bear in mind is that peoples' subjects and photographic interests often change with time and if in the future you acquired a longer focal length lens as well then you would be in a better position with a .72 finder.

 

Pete.

[LarsAC]

I like the .58 finder for 28-50, which are my main focal lengths I use. I do not wear glasses. 28 is comfortable with little space around the frame, 35 is ideal and 50 is still good. 75 and longer will be tedious.

 

However, I often use a Voigtlander Skopar 50mm/2.5, so critical focus is not an issue.

 

Lars

 

 

 

 

Lars

[Guest]

How will the .58 be with a 50mm. The 50mm I was thinking of is the Noctilux 1.0 - Early '80s E60 bayonet hood, not plastic.

Now you're talking: this is your 80%-of-the-time-lens.

Quite a challenge, not only for an M-novice!

 

So imo: a 0.85 MP with an EXTERNAL viewfinder (not older than 10 years) for a twentyONE mm lens. Since the M8 came out external viewfinders have an additional smaller frame for the cropped field-of-view, that lets you also see what is around your shot with a 28mm lens on. And you're positive of your complete overview wearing glasses.

 

With the standard 0.72 your focus with the Noctilux will be suboptimal compared to a 0.85 viewfinder. And at the same time you won't see the 28mm frames with spectacles on. It would not be a compromise, but a double whammy instead.

 

A first time M user with a Noctilux shooting film: you know yourself to be super-determined, whatever you do. Otherwise the aftermath of your experiment might land in the classifieds. (But there is no doubt, that a Noctilux is best used with a 0.85 in any case. Here's a 0.85 thread - and he's not using a Noctilux, but 1.4 and 2.0

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/258635-buying-m6j-kit-vs-mp-à-la-carte/#entry3015196

[wattsy]

50mm at F1 is well within the baseline accuracy of a 0.58x RF let alone the 0.72x RF – the Noctilux really isn't anything like as demanding (both in theory and practice) as a 75mm at F1.4, 90mm at F2 or even 135mm at F3.4.

Edited March 27, 2016 by wattsy

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[animalhairs]

.58...

[spydrxx]

If you live near a large city, perhaps you can visit a Leica dealer and see for yourself which works best for you. Although you wear glasses, do you intend to wear them shooting, or will you be using a diopter eyepiece? The further your eye is away from the eyepiece, the harder it is to see the outermost frames. On the flipside,  the smaller the image is in the viewfinder, the more difficult it  is to focus accurately (t least for me). The answer for much of my work, until I could afford two bodies, was to get the .72 finder and it worked quite well for my 35, 50 & 90 lenses. I briefly used a .85, mostly with 90 & 135 lenses, but found it really didn't suit me in the long run. Likewise I tried a .58 and didn't really click with it. These days I mostly use a .72 for focusing and external brite line finders for framing.