Rich1950
Member
My favorite lens is a Minolta 40/2. Does using the entire frame of a M3 work as well as a M6 .72 finder with the 35mm frame selected?
I've heard people doing either, though the 0.72x finder of any Leica M with 28mm frame lines (the M4-P, M6, MP, M7) will do equally as well as the M6.My favorite lens is a Minolta 40/2. Does using the entire frame of a M3 work as well as a M6 .72 finder with the 35mm frame selected?
From what I've heard, the M2, M4, M4-2 and M5 have 35mm frame lines that are more accurate than the later .72 finders that have the 28mm frame lines. That inaccuracy, combined with the fact that they're set to be most accurate at MFD rather than 1, 1.5 or 2 meters, make them more suited to a 40mm lens.To be clear I was thinking forum members would compare using a M3 or M2/4.
This has come up before, and people have said they can just use the full width of the finder, ignoring the framelines (it will bring up the 50mm frame). I suspect the lens covers a bit more than the full finder width; but you can just "think outside the box" (outside the viewfinder edges) just a little bit, as Bill suggests. I have done this with a 24mm lens, using the finder edges of my M6 .58 finder. One develops a sense of what a lens covers until it becomes instinctive.I own a CV 40mm Nokton f/1.2, which has become one of my favorite lenses.
I recognize the 50mm framelines are tight for the lens, but it works. I simply guestimate for the extra image around the lines. On an M3 - so much the better. Simply be looking just outside the 50mm framelines (which fill the screen on an M3) instead of just inside when using a 50mm lens.
It's not rocket science. You'll figure it out pretty quickly.
To be clear I was thinking forum members would compare using a M3 or M2/4.
I had a CL but due to its short base it’s not on my list.
Is it with practice more accurate or easier to imagine the 40 frame line outside the M2/4 50 frame or more accurate to use the entire finder of the M3?
IMHO, you're spending far too much energy on this.Bill, which method seems the most accurate. Using a M2/4 50 frame to estimate or the entire frame of a M3.
Is it when you shoot at the near focus you risk not getting all the image on film?
Most of my subjects are focused at 10 ft if that helps with which body is recommended.
Yes I said that earlier, and @Bill Blackwell is also spot-on…framelines are never accurate in all situations, all distances.I have not actually shot my 40mm Heliar on my M3, as I have a CL…but just now looking through the M3 viewfinder and comparing it with the CL’s, I would say, yes the entire M3 view is roughly equal to 40mm.