M8 Viewfinder/Frame Lines Question

[Guest]

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... possibly a silly question, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it. I don't have access to an M8 yet - with a film M (0.72 magnification finder), wearing glasses, I can only just see the 35mm frame lines, the 50 being much more comfortable. How would the M8 compare when using a 35mm (47mm equivalent on the M8 of course) lens? Would it look basically the same as a film M? Would I have more difficulty seeing the 35mm frame lines, or less? And am I really looking at 47mm frame lines on the M8?!? I can't work out what impact the 1.33x crop factor has on the viewfinder itself (I do understand the effect it has in the lens).

Thanks in advance for any help!

Edited May 4, 2019 by Guest

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[a.noctilux]

It's WYSIWYG, don't worry,  but  remember framing accuracy in RF is not 100% ...

In M8 viewfinder, you will get the field of view of the lens 35mm accounting the crop 1.3 factor.

The frame lines showed take that into account already but at same time will show "24mm" along with "35" frame lines.

M8 VF has 0.68 mag. so with 35mm lens one can see the "35" frame lines (with 47 equivalent picture field) even with glasses.

You can find M8 manual here

(page 101, 102, 103)

...

don't forget M8 Wiki

Edited May 4, 2019 by a.noctilux

[Guest]

Thanks - I think I get it now: the overall viewfinder size is roughly the same (albeit 0.68 vs 0.72 magnification) as a typical film M, but the frame lines will be smaller, to account for the crop sensor, thus making the 35 set more easily seen when wearing glasses, albeit with the compromise that the 50 is perhaps more difficult to compose with, as it’s quite small? As somebody who (just) favours 35 over 50 lenses, I may end up liking this even more than a full frame body I think.

[Guest]

vor 32 Minuten schrieb AndyGarton:

... As somebody who (just) favours 35 over 50 lenses, I may end up liking this even more than a full frame body I think.

If you prefer on full frame (24x36mm) 35 over 50mm lenses, you'll need a 28mm lens on the M8. (28mm x crop 1.33 = 37 mm)

[Jeff S]

Another thing to wrap your head around is that the frame lines in the film Ms are typically optimized at .7m or 1m, while the M8.2 lines are optimized for 2m (the M8 is .7m).  At those respective distances, the framing is relatively accurate; at other distances, the framework lines show more or less, depending on the subject distance.

The crop factor, however, is not something you have to think about.  Focal lengths are unchanged, regardless of camera used, but the field of view is cropped already in the VF.  

Jeff

[Guest]

Yep thanks guys. I understand the crop factor stuff generally, having dealt with it on other cameras several times in the past. I'm not sure I agree you don't have to think about it on the M8, at least not unless you use the M8 exclusively, which I won't be doing. So they'll always be a bit of thinking ahead of time to do - if I'm in a "50 sort of mood", that will mean a 35mm lens on the M8 etc. And yes, my slight preference for the 35mm focal length means I'll in theory like a 28 on the M8, but I do value being able to see the frame lines, and ideally outside of them a bit, so I suspect a 35mm lens will work best ... but we'll see when I get my camera (I've bought an 8.2).

Similarly, I was aware of the optimized frame line distance - I went for the 8.2 partly because of the 2m setting, which suits my shooting style much better generally (although it's true to say I haven't really struggled with parallax much on the M system for some reason).

[Jeff S]

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1 hour ago, AndyGarton said:

 (although it's true to say I haven't really struggled with parallax much on the M system for some reason).

Leica was clever to shift the frame lines and the focus patch to accommodate parallax in all Ms, regardless of distance optimization differences.

Jeff