frame lines on M10P?

[dickgillberg]

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The light on the frame lines in my M10P is usually pretty dim when I use it in darker environments. It's slow changing when the light are different if not at all. Why can't we decide the strength of the illumination in the menu? Or do I miss something? And I noticed my camera have more illumination of the frame lines on the right side.

[Jeff S]

First, be sure that your fingers aren’t covering the front window, and that the glass is wiped clean.  And be sure your eye is centered (more importantly for best focusing).

DAG apparently has an accessory for the issue, but I have no experience with it (nor any need)...

https://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2018/08/leica-m-viewfinder-frame-illuminator.html?m=1

Jeff

Edited November 14, 2019 by Jeff S

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[jaapv]

AFAIK, the M10(P) has LED-illuminated frame lines, thus no frameline window.

[jdlaing]

6 hours ago, dickgillberg said:

The light on the frame lines in my M10P is usually pretty dim when I use it in darker environments. It's slow changing when the light are different if not at all. Why can't we decide the strength of the illumination in the menu? Or do I miss something? And I noticed my camera have more illumination of the frame lines on the right side.

Is the rangefinder patch illuminated the same brightness as the framelines?

[adan]

Nope - in M240/M10, framelines are electrically lit, the RF patch is simply the natural brightness of the scene (times two, from two windows overlapped, minus any glass/coating transmission losses).

The frameline LED illumination is auto-controlled by either the "blue dot" sensor on the top front, or the internal "classic" light meter - to adjust with subject brightness (probably the first, to avoid lens aperture biasing the frameline brightness.)

And to the OP's question, no, there is no user adjustment for framelines, just the available light detected. The LCD on the back can be adjusted by the user menus for Auto, or to a fixed dim > bright amount.

[Jeff S]

2 hours ago, jaapv said:

AFAIK, the M10(P) has LED-illuminated frame lines, thus no frameline window.

I should have said  brightness sensor on front, not window.

Jeff

Edited November 14, 2019 by Jeff S

[mujk]

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This is one of the quite few really annoying "features" of the M10. It is particularly noticeable when the middle of the scene is much darker then the rest. This is probably because the brightness sensor seems to be center-weighed, like the built in exposure meter (which makes sense for the primary use of the sensor, i.e. guesstimating the aperture setting based on the difference in meter reading).

I don't know why Leica hasn't made the framelight brightness setting configurable, assuming it is controllable by software. If that is not the case, it would be quite an odd design decision...

[jaapv]

3 hours ago, Jeff S said:

I should have said  brightness sensor on front, not window.

Jeff

OK, but that gizmo won't work

[Jeff S]

3 minutes ago, jaapv said:

OK, but that gizmo won't work

Don’t understand... my point was to keep the sensor unobstructed, and clean, for optimal performance.

Jeff

[jaapv]

https://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2018/08/leica-m-viewfinder-frame-illuminator.html?m=1

[Jeff S]

Correct...only on models prior to M240... my mistake.

Jeff

[Peter Kilmister]

The only problem I had with viewfinder framelines was when my M10-P was new and I hadn't fully clicked the lens into place. Mea culpa!

Since then no problem and it highlights well in poor light.

[dickgillberg]

Well, let's hope we can get a menu option to change the illumination of the framelines from auto to mid and high. I think the auto, on my camera anyway, works to slow when I go from low light to high light in a room. That's on my wish list, otherwise the M10P are almost perfect.

[mujk]

16 hours ago, jaapv said:

https://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2018/08/leica-m-viewfinder-frame-illuminator.html?m=1

I guess you could build something similar to trick the light sensor on the M10 to believe it is really in very bright conditions. Tried it with a small flashlight. Seems to work. Would of course give crazy aperture values in the EXIF.

Actually, I sometimes have an even bigger problem than the dim framelines, because also the led display in the OVF goes very dim under certain conditions (controlled by the same sensor). Manual setting would fix this too.