Masked Frame lines

[ivohula]

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Does anyone have experience with having certain framelines getting masked to avoid having them show up and distract. A friend of mine has removed the 75/135 frame lines. He says that this is non-invasive and all the framelines can be restored during a routine service. Just wondering if anyone has done this to ANY M camera?

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[Dennis]

Nope, yet! But I would love to have 75 and 135 frame lines masked on my M10. Maybe I don't use much the 50mm because of this.

[adan]

It has been done from time to time. The only ones I know about are with film Ms, and maybe special editions direct from the factory. But of course I wouldn't know about every instance.

Your friend's definition of "non-invasive" must be different from mine. Which is "does not require any disassembly."

It should be reversible - can be changed back with another trip to Leica, or a third-party technician (who is willing to work on the digital bodies).

If possible with the M11, it will involve (at least) removing the top plate and the parts on top of it (ISO knob, shutter dial, misc. buttons, etc.) and then opening up the self-contained rangefinder unit inside. And then removing and disassembling the delicate "frameline mask sandwich" itself (see diagram below - the "mask sandwich" is the large diagonal "wall" about in the middle of the rangefinder).

It should be noted that the "normal" framelines are already two masks - one with the main slits for all 6 focal lengths cut in it, and then another moving mask sandwiched with it, with offset slits that cover all but two main slits in each position (28/90, 35/135, 50/75). The second mask slides diagonally to reveal different frameline pairs depending on focal length mounted, or the position of the selection lever on the front. The whole sandwich moves diagonally in a different direction as the lens is focused, to correct for framing parallax.

So it is a very delicate mechanism with about a dozen tiny, thin, moving and carefully "tuned" masks, springs and actuating levers. Not to be be treated lightly; there IS a reason that an M RF/VF costs about US $1500 all by itself (last time I checked - it is likely more now).

"Removing" framelines will involve "blanking out" the slits in one mask or the other - or more realistically, installing a whole new mask with the slits never cut in the first place. The mechanism is too delicate and tightly-packed to just shove in some black masking tape.

 

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[Jeff S]

The pictures here provide an idea of the assembly and inner workings. And this was before the body got slimmer.

Jeff

[wizard]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb adan:

... or more realistically, installing a whole new mask with the slits never cut in the first place.

That is exactly how it was/is done at Leica. I had my M7 modified to show the 50mm frame without the 75mm frame (all other frames remained unchanged). It requires installing a new mask without the 75mm frame lines. It was an option under the now defunct à la carte program, and other options did exist, too, such as having only 35, 50 and 90mm framelines.

[BigBabyEarl]

Youxin Ye does it for $120. Just not sure about digital. 

[davidmknoble]

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On 7/4/2022 at 11:38 PM, ivohula said:

Does anyone have experience with having certain framelines getting masked to avoid having them show up and distract. A friend of mine has removed the 75/135 frame lines. He says that this is non-invasive and all the framelines can be restored during a routine service. Just wondering if anyone has done this to ANY M camera?

Not digital, but I have two a-la-carte MP’s and the both have the lower number of frame lines.  Does make it cleaner.