Love my Visioflex 020 (mini review)

[Keith_W]

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For my recent trip to Europe, I decided that I would buy a Visioflex 020 EVF for my M10. The initial reason I bought it was to be able to focus in low light (turns out it isn't that great at it, see later) - but it did turn out to be more useful than I thought. 

 

What's in the box

The Visioflex is supplied in a typical silver Leica box. Inside is the Visioflex 020, a cloth drawstring case, a leather case, a plastic protector for the Visioflex foot, warranty, and instructions. The Visioflex 020 adds EVF capability as well as GPS. 

 

Usage

This couldn't be simpler. Mount the Visioflex to the hotshoe of the M10, and turn on Live View. The Visioflex detects when you are looking through it and switches from the LCD to the EVF. To avoid battery wastage when you are not looking through the EVF, it is best to set these options:

 

EVF/Display Control:

- Play screen target Auto*;

- LV screen target EVF, and

- Auto review screen target Auto*. 

 

*Auto means that the Visioflex will detect if you are looking through it or not. 

 

The setting of Live View persists after you switch your camera off and back on. The moment you turn your camera on, you hear the shutter click open and the EVF lights up. After you take a picture, if you are still looking through the EVF, the image review will appear in the EVF. The moment you take your eye away, it switches to the LCD. 

 

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Focusing through the Visioflex is easy. The moment you turn the focus tab, or press the button in front of the M10, the center part of the image is magnified. Once you achieve focus, you see a red outline. A half press of the shutter button previews the exposure and shows all the exposure settings, as per the above picture. 

 

Once the Visioflex is mounted, the clean lines of the M10 looks as if it is being terrorized by a black plastic contraption. It looks out of place and a little bit ugly, but nowhere near as ugly as it does on the more svelte TL/TL2. On the M10, it looks a bit more as if it belongs. You can form your own opinion: 

 

 

If you use a Leica holster for the M10 (as I do), there is no cutout to accommodate the Visioflex. To carry the Visioflex, I simply tied the supplied leather case to the holster with string. It is a good aesthetic match given that it is made with the same leather as the holster. Pardon my shoddy tying skills: 

 

 

 

Opinion

I used the Visioflex in a variety of weather conditions - in heat up to 35C (in tropical Kuala Lumpur) and down to -10C (in the German Alps). The only problem comes from using it in extreme cold. After a day of walking around in the cold, going into any warm environment causes the Visioflex to fog up internally making it effectively unusable until the temperature equalizes. The rangefinder or sensor does not fog up - so the camera remains usable as a "normal" M10. 

 

As for battery drainage, my subjective impression is that it drains the M10's battery 25% faster than using the rangefinder alone. A spare battery saved my holiday more than a few occasions! If you are planning to buy a Visioflex, make sure you make the budget to buy a spare battery if you are planning to spend the whole day out shooting. 

 

The other problem with the Visioflex is that it does not actually improve your focusing accuracy under certain conditions. When the subject is backlit, and in low light. In these cases, I have to use the rangefinder (more accurate when the subject is backlit). In low light, my eyes aren't good enough to focus through the rangefinder. There isn't enough contrast to activate focus peaking on the Visioflex, so you have to decide for yourself when the image is at its sharpest. 

 

 

Another fault (as you can see from the image above) is that it partially obscures the most important part of the shutter speed setting, i.e. the indicator! 

 

If you use a Leica holster for the M10 (as I do), there is no cutout to accommodate the Visioflex. To carry the Visioflex, I simply tied the supplied leather case to the holster with string. It is a good aesthetic match given that it is made with the same leather as the holster. Pardon my shoddy tying skills: 

 

 

 

(Continues)

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[Keith_W]

BY FAR the greatest advantage of the Visioflex 020 (and why you should get one) is that it allows you to tilt it to any angle, up to 90 degrees, like this: 

 

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This allows you to take very low angle shots. On my recent holiday, I would get down on my knees, angle the Visioflex to 90 degrees, and put the camera almost to ground level. That allowed me to take pictures like this (apologies, this is a JPG straight from the camera without any Lightroom processing. Its purpose is only to show you what is possible and not to show off my photography!): 

 

 

If any of you were to use the rangefinder for the above shot, you would be lying on your bellies in ice and swan poop. Not to mention, craning your neck at an unnatural angle just to achieve focus. 

 

In short 

The Visioflex has a number of drawbacks - mostly its bulk, ugly appearance, battery drainage, and has some issues achieving focus in some conditions. But in my opinion it is a worthwhile purchase because it allows you to take photographs from an angle where your posture normally won't allow you to. Yes, it is very expensive - but what Leica purchase isn't? 

[Foxtwo]

Thank you! Just received one and this is extremely helpful.

[rodders]

Excellent review. Thank you for taking the time.

 

I have had one about a week now and was initially shy given some other reviews on here.

 

I love mine. For critical focusing it leaves little doubt. 

 

I would use mine 25% of the time and believe it is a great accessory.

[Keith_W]

By the way Leica - if you are listening. It would be nice if we had a firmware update that saves us some battery power. With the Visioflex mounted and your eye away from it, you could power down the EVF and the sensor (but still leaving the shutter open). The moment you bring your eye to the Visioflex, power both back up. I am not sure if this would be possible. 

[Guest Nowhereman]

Keith_W - Thanks for the review. I bought mine when I got my M10 in March — and haven't taken to it all. The only thing I've used it for is to focus the M10 and Focotar 2 lens on the Leitz BEOON stand when "scanning" film, but that can be done just as accurately with the BEOON loupe, particularly if you have experience manually focusing as enlarger.

 

Seems to me that the 020 would be useful for accurate framing with wide-angle lenses for carefully shot landscapes and, generally, for macro shots. But I've been mainly shooting street photography, for which I much prefer the OVF of the M10. Compared to the EFV on the new CL the 020 seems jerkier and less smooth. Theoretically, the 020 would also be good for telephoto lenses for wildlife, but seems to me too jerky for extended use, as on a wildlife safari.

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[Keith_W]

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Ah yes, I did not mention the refresh because it does not affect me very much. I only shoot "normal" focal lengths (28, 35, and 50). As such I don't pan very much. When I look through the Visioflex, I have already decided my framing. I take a few steps forward or back, and check different angles, then I focus and shoot. It might be different if I shot longer focal lengths. 

 

Although I do not own any lens wider than 28mm, I can see that it would be a definite boon for people who shot that wide since the standard OVF doesn't display any wider than 28mm. 

 

I should also mention the heat issue. If you leave the EVF on, the M10 body will overheat and refuse to allow you to take a picture. If you read the Leica Barnack Berek Blog where he interviews Stefan Daniel and Jesko von Oeynhausen (here: http://gmpphoto.blogspot.my/2017/02/the-leica-m10-discussion-with-stefan.html), they mention that because the M10 is so densely packed with electronics, it has an issue with overheating. My M10 managed to overheat even when I was in Germany, when it was -5C. It would probably be worse in summer. Thus far I am careful to switch off the camera after I take every picture, but as I mentioned a few posts back - it would be better if Leica issued a firmware update to switch off the sensor and EVF when you are not looking through it. 

[rnl]

I too purchased this accessory. Coming from a Canon 1dxmkii and 5dsr as well as other SLR equipment I was not completely comfortable with the rangefinder and found this viewer to simulate the SLR experience.  I have found that I can pinpoint the focus with this unit.

 

Recently I purchased an eyecup to overcome the one problem I have notice with the rangefinder, stray light.                                                                          Match Technical 34mm E-Clypse EyeCup for Leica M10 Camera                                                                       

[drgek]

I use mine to accurately frame my 21 (and it's cheaper than Leica's OVF) and focus my Tele-Elmar 135 with greater accuracy. One advantage, not previously stated, is that use of the Visioflex enables the camera to use evaluative metering instead of center weighted. I find that evaluative metering gives better results in tricky lighting. I think the GPS is so slow to lock a signal that it is exceedingly frustrating and can't be relied upon.

[MikeMyers]

On 12/22/2017 at 2:17 AM, Keith_W said:

.......I should also mention the heat issue. If you leave the EVF on, the M10 body will overheat and refuse to allow you to take a picture........Thus far I am careful to switch off the camera after I take every picture.......

If one allowed the camera to go into "standby mode", rather than switching it off, wouldn't this have the same result, while allowing the camera to re-start more quickly?

 

[vincent_1919]

Hi Keith, thanks for this great review.

I've a question: can you focus without zooming? Sometimes I'll try to focus on corners...

As to the Liveview mode on M10, I couldn't find a place to allow me to turn off the zooming and keeping the peaking focus....

[T25UFO]

7 hours ago, vincent_1919 said:

Hi Keith, thanks for this great review.

I've a question: can you focus without zooming? Sometimes I'll try to focus on corners...

As to the Liveview mode on M10, I couldn't find a place to allow me to turn off the zooming and keeping the peaking focus....

You can adjust the zoom, or turn it off altogether, with the thumbwheel. 

[robert blu]

A well done review, I agree on all the points. I prefer to use the vf for normal shooting but there are times when the EVF20 is very useful.

It's not perfect but as an auxiliary tool for special works is very good.

[Strmbrg]

Good review and comments! I will fetch up one this week for a reasonable sum (250 Euros). I don't get the purpose of "geotagging" or what it is called. Does that mean that you get the geographic coordinates in the EXIF? For what purpose? One knows hopefully where ones photos are taken anyway.
My plan is only to use it for some close-up-photos and not much else.

Edited April 23, 2024 by Strmbrg

[dpitt]

13 hours ago, Strmbrg said:

Good review and comments! I will fetch up one this week for a reasonable sum (250 Euros). I don't get the purpose of "geotagging" or what it is called. Does that mean that you get the geographic coordinates in the EXIF? For what purpose? One knows hopefully where ones photos are taken anyway.
My plan is only to use it for some close-up-photos and not much else.

Yes it is for the geographic coordinates. I do not always remember where photos are taken. If I am lucky, I still know in what town, but maybe nit where exactly. Before I had this possibility, I used to take a shot here and there with my iPhone not for the picture but just to have the coordinates when I revisit them years later.

[Strmbrg]

So, the Visoflex "has landed". I am pretty shure that I only will use it as a accessory for close-ups. The performance is not at all up to what I want in normal use. No way!
I don't know the term for it, but when I look trough it and move move the camera, there is a very significant "update-delay" or how I shall explain it.
Besides that it seems very useful for close-ups.

[Strmbrg]

Did some close-ups today with the new Summilux 50 the ELPRO3 and the Visoflex 020. (Handheld.)
I must say that the Visoflex 020 (with M10-R) is very good in this respect. No problem with focusing, rather very helpful. I didn't even use the zoom-function.
Very pleased with it for this kind of images. Not least because it was only for close-ups I bought it. 🙂

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[GFW2-SCUSA]

I like the Visoflex 020 for close ups as well. I have to use it with my 90mm macro and it does the job well. I do often us the zoom function.  Its a pity it wasn't designed better so that it was less like a wart on the camera. I guess the new one sits lower or so it appears. I will keep what I have as it does the job on my M10 well. 

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[Strmbrg]

4 hours ago, GFW2-SCUSA said:

I like the Visoflex 020 for close ups as well. I have to use it with my 90mm macro and it does the job well. I do often us the zoom function.  Its a pity it wasn't designed better so that it was less like a wart on the camera. I guess the new one sits lower or so it appears. I will keep what I have as it does the job on my M10 well. 

Agree on the look mounted on the camera. It is not designed for M-cameras but for some other one (extremely bad at remembering "gear-names").
If I should use it more or less permanently, and the mount the handgrip, the thumb-rest, the finger-loop and one of the largest (and most viewfinder-blocking) lenses...
The sole little camera-body would nearly disappear in the middle of an enormous cloud of add-on-stuff. 🙂
By the way - if I don't like or have some difficulties in using the rangefinder-principle - why then hang on to a camera that isn't so very good for me to use?