Frameline accuracy

[Primitive J]

Hello,

I'm just starting to get use to my Leica M6. I've had it for almost 4 weeks now, and so far it's been a positive experience. I've been wondering about the accuracy of rangefinders, however.

How accurate are the framelines? I typically don't worry about precise framing, and I'm more concerned with the "gestalt" of the image. This being said, I'd like to know how tight to frame at the edges in some instances. Do you rely on the frame in the viewfinder for the edge of the negative?

J

 

[EthanFrank]

From my experience, I would say accurate-ish. I've never had a big issue, but sometimes I'll notice a shot (usually buildings) that don't look like I framed it.

 

[normclarke]

When Leica re-designed the M finder for the M4P to add the 28mm frame all the other frames shrank. I you want accuracy you'll need a pre M4P camera which are much better in this respect. I sold an M6TTL .85 because of this problem I found the 50mm frames for longer distances too far out for my likeing. The M3 is reckoned to be the most accurate in this respect.

Best,

normclarke.

 

[furcafe]

As you probably know, the framelines on a Leica M can only be accurate for 1 chosen focus distance. Per normclarke's post, the most recent Leica models have had the framelines set so that they show you what you get on film/sensor @ the closest focus distance for the modern lenses (0.7m), presumably to give users some wiggle room (better to crop after the fact than inadvertently crop in the camera). Older models had frameline coverage set for longer distances (1-3m?, not sure what the precise distance was though I do know that the M8.2's framelines were set for 2m to accomodate old-school users) & were accordingly larger.

Bottom line: You can generally frame very closely w/a Leica M & still have negative/sensor space left; a lot @ far distances & progressively less as you focus closer.

More info:

http://nemeng.com/leica/006ba.shtml

Hello,

I'm just starting to get use to my Leica M6. I've had it for almost 4 weeks now, and so far it's been a positive experience. I've been wondering about the accuracy of rangefinders, however.

How accurate are the framelines? I typically don't worry about precise framing, and I'm more concerned with the "gestalt" of the image. This being said, I'd like to know how tight to frame at the edges in some instances. Do you rely on the frame in the viewfinder for the edge of the negative?

J

 

[250swb]

Accurate-ish is a good analogy.

Experience makes them more accurate. Think of them as a fuzzy line and back off if in doubt about getting everything in. Some Leica users like to think in terms of never crop, but in the real world all the worlds best photographers eventually succumb to the Leica variable edge.

Steve

 

[Erik van Straten]

The M2 and M3 cameras are the best in this respect. One should keep in mind that the engraved focal lengths of lenses are not allways the true focal lengths. A 35mm lens from the sixties is more close to 40mm. The modern 35mm's are true 35mm lenses.

Erik.

 

[zauhar]

I have been able to trust the framelines on my M3 as pretty precise - however I recently made an error where I focussed at infinity and then composed objects in the scene very close to the camera (i.e. I wanted the objects blurred for effect). I forgot that the parallax correction was totally messed up!

I should add that so far I only use 50mm lens (or 21mm with external VF), I have never tried the built-in framelines for 90 or 135mm.

Randy

 

[Roger Hicks]

Here's an interesting thought on content vs. composition, a bit like 'technical quality' vs 'picture quality'.

Sure, there are some pictures where absolutely precise composition matters. There are others where the subject matter grabs you and you just don't notice too much about the framing and other picture elements.

Once again, we're into 'good enough' (and cropping if you have to).

Cheers,

R.