George Stoichev Posted June 26, 2022 Share #1 Posted June 26, 2022 Advertisement (gone after registration) Ho everyone, I have Leica M6 and I love it. I never owned 35mm SLR camera, only Polaroid SX-70 which is SLR.I shot few times with SLR. A week ago I asked one friend to give me bis Nikon FE2 with 200mm lens to test it. The truth is that I don’t like the hard button and the noisy shutter, but I like the way I frame.I mean I like that I see only what is going to be in the frame and nothing else. From the results I noticed that my photos gave better composition than with the M6. I know the vast majority like the viewfinder of Leica M and the possibility to see what is going to be inside the frame and many say that this is advantage, but I’m not sure wether for me this is valid. I use 50mm Summicron, because I don’t like too much wide lenses. As I said, I like my M6 too much, I don’t want to switch to SLR. Is there any tip/trick to ignore what is outside the frame? Am I the only one who prefer to see only what is going to be inside the frame? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 26, 2022 Posted June 26, 2022 Hi George Stoichev, Take a look here Aiming with M6. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Anbaric Posted June 26, 2022 Share #2 Posted June 26, 2022 2 hours ago, George Stoichev said: As I said, I like my M6 too much, I don’t want to switch to SLR. Is there any tip/trick to ignore what is outside the frame? Am I the only one who prefer to see only what is going to be inside the frame? You might simply prefer SLRs. Many people do, though perhaps shooting with a telephoto isn't a fair comparison. You might want to try the Nikon or another (perhaps quieter) SLR for a while with a 50mm (it's cheap enough to acquire one, and you can probably resell it for around what you paid for it). It may not help that the 50mm framelines on the 0.72 M6 are a little undersized compared to the coverage you actually get at longer shooting distances. I'm not sure there's any particular trick to using an M except for practice. But you might like Bill Pierce's classic post about the advantages of different types of viewfinder and how they can affect your photography: https://web.archive.org/web/20070510204549/http://dirckhalstead.org/issue9801/nutsandbolts9801.htm 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted June 26, 2022 Share #3 Posted June 26, 2022 3 hours ago, George Stoichev said: As I said, I like my M6 too much, I don’t want to switch to SLR. Is there any tip/trick to ignore what is outside the frame? Am I the only one who prefer to see only what is going to be inside the frame? No trick, so why for a while I used along M and R Leica. Now I use M3 when I don't want "more" outside the frame, but it's round corners remind me of Kodachrome slides and not very accurate for negatives (to be reframed anyway). For many years I use x1.25 or x1.4 magnifiers, or better M6 HM 0.85 VF that I always use 😉. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted June 26, 2022 Share #4 Posted June 26, 2022 Maybe you can use masking tape stuck to the outside of the viewfinder window to block off the excess view. Or buy a shoe mounted finder (never used one so I don't know if they show much outside the actual field of view). Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 26, 2022 Share #5 Posted June 26, 2022 The frame is also not through the lens, so the image you see is slightly offset left of the lens. Neither ever bothered me I have to say. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted June 26, 2022 Share #6 Posted June 26, 2022 (edited) Side discovery or side move ? SBOOI can be (or not ) the answer. or attach Visoflex III if you can live with 65mm lens and upward (old lenses 90/135/200/280/400/560/etc.) Visoflex exploration can be a good move ? ... a chart ... Edited June 26, 2022 by a.noctilux Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted June 26, 2022 Share #7 Posted June 26, 2022 Advertisement (gone after registration) 35 minutes ago, earleygallery said: Maybe you can use masking tape stuck to the outside of the viewfinder window to block off the excess view. Or buy a shoe mounted finder (never used one so I don't know if they show much outside the actual field of view). Scrap my first idea, of course I forgot that the framelines move as you focus to correct for parralax, so the shoe mounted finder is the option to look at. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart D Posted June 26, 2022 Share #8 Posted June 26, 2022 I use both rangefinder and SLR. Rangefinder only for 28mm - 90mm, SLR from 15mm - 300mm. Seeing outside the frame with a rangefinder: only for 50mm and up. For 35mm, there's almost nothing to be seen outside of the frame lines and for 28mm, even the frame lines are not all visible at once (I wear glasses). The area outside of the frame lines, you ignore, as you do the other frame lines in the viewfinder. This comes automatically as you get used to the process. For a SLR, it's a different technique: you see the scene and you visualise the frame you want to capture, you put the camera to your eye, confirm and take the picture. Framing will always be more of an approximation with a rangefinder than with a SLR. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spydrxx Posted June 26, 2022 Share #9 Posted June 26, 2022 For those who grew up with rangefinders, it is intuitive...one merely learns to either ignore what is outside the frame by concentrating what is inside, or one likes seeing outside the frame to properly anticipate the moment of pressing the shutter button and capturing the image. Using a SLR seems to be a Godsend for some who don't easily make the aforementioned accommodation, but it isn't perfect either, as most SLR viewfinders don't actually cover exactly 100% of what will be captured. I love using both and encourage you to just keep up practicing until you are fully comfortable. Some RF users don't even think about the framelines, as they are merely concerned with what is in the central area (an old newspaper trick), and consider the peripheral area toss-away. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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