Jump to content

Recommended Posts

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?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

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

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

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 😉.

Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

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. 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...