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Disappearing frame lines at infinity


adli

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Received my M11 yesterday. To my horror the frame lines disappear when the lens is close to or at infinity. If I focus down to 5-6 meters, the frame lines reappear. 
 

in addition, the frame lines are dimmer at close focus that at 2-5 meters.

This seem to happen to all my lenses, have tested 5-6 different lenses.

 

Any clue on what’s going on?

 

 

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That really sucks. I think something in the rangefinder must be masking the frame lines when they move to correct for parallax. 

Are the frame lines somewhat accurate ?

Seems you'll need to send the camera in for an exchange. 😬

Edited by hmzimelka
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13 minutes ago, lct said:

Does moving the frame selector change anything?

 

It changes the frames as expected when the frame lines are visible. When they are not visible around infinity, moving the frame selector does not change anything.

 

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1 minute ago, lct said:

Did you check cleanliness of the brightness sensor? Just curious given that the frame lines brightness depend on that sensor. 

 

It is clean. And the transition from frame lines to no frame lines is very distinct when I change focus.

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9 hours ago, adli said:


Received my M11 yesterday. To my horror the frame lines disappear when the lens is close to or at infinity. If I focus down to 5-6 meters, the frame lines reappear. 
 

in addition, the frame lines are dimmer at close focus that at 2-5 meters.

This seem to happen to all my lenses, have tested 5-6 different lenses.

 

Any clue on what’s going on?

 

 

Is your finger getting in the way of the window that brings light to the viewfinder?

If not, flick the frame lines lever once – it will unstick whatever's going on.

Edited by hdmesa
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29 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

Is your finger getting in the way of the window that brings light to the viewfinder?

If not, flick the frame lines lever once – it will unstick whatever's going on.

 

It's not my finger.

It is consistent across all lenses.

It happens at the same focus distance every time.

Flicking levers, changing lenses or switching camera on/off does not help.

It seems to be the illumination for the frame lines that switches of when focus gets close to infinity.

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Sounds like something weird is going on with the parallax-correction linkage in the (rather complex) mechanical frameline assembly.

Some may forget that focusing an M lens does move the framelines as a whole - up and to the left when focusing to infinity; down and to the right focusing closer - to adjust for the viewfinder overall seeing the world from a point 4.5cm up and to the left of the lens on the front (i.e. parallax). At long distances that 4.5cm difference is irrelevant, but at 1m, subjects' heads might get cut off without the movement.

Frame selection moves a mask that reveals/hides framelines depending on what lens is mounted - or via the selector lever on the front.

So there are two separate movement mechanisms in the viewfinder, which have to stay coordinated as one focuses.

Sounds like the selector-mask may be slipping to an "in-between" position that blanks out all the frameline "slots," as the whole set of lines move with focusing.

Which is a fault and should not happen - send it back.

I would not think focusing would "turn off" the LED illumination - the mechanical focus or selection movement and the electrical LED power are completely independent systems. It would be like your car sound-system turning on and off if you pushed the brake pedal. ;) But I suppose anything is possible.

Edited by adan
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10 hours ago, adan said:

But I suppose anything is possible.

It is - I once had a loaner Renault Megane. I had to turn on the windscreen wipers to operate the navigation system. 

  • Haha 2
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