.68 rangefinder magnification

[Anthony MD]

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Just curious, what focal length goes best with the .68 rangefinder magnification…🔍

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[adan]

If it is any help, the 0.58x viewfinder for the film Ms was first introduced, as an option, at the same time as the 28mm Summicron-M, and does not have a frameline for 135mm lenses.

The 0.68x in the pre-M10 digitals, starting from the M8, was to compensate for the thicker camera bodies and the "tunnel-vision" which that created for the viewfinder.

———
——— film M/M10>11

vs.

————
———— M8 > M262

The world/scene had to be "shrunk" or "de-magnified" a bit to include a 28mm field of view - and, in the case of the APS-H cropped M8 sensor, allow framing with a 24mm lens, as an effective "32mm" field of view on the reduced sensor size, and again deleted the 135 lines.

So far as I'm concerned, it degraded the rangefinder focusing precision (effective base length) of ALL M lenses by about 7%. Which is one reason (of several) why I jumped on the 0.73x M10 as soon as it was available.

But other than perhaps choosing a slighty smaller aperture, for extra DoF, no specific lens was better or worse at 0.68x (focusing or viewing). I managed to use a 75mm f/1.4 wide-open, with no problem, for most of the time I had a 0.68x M9. And a 135 f/4.0 - although with some focus problems in the "rangefinder dead zone" between about 66 feet/20m and the "infinity" hard-stop.