28mm with M2, M5 .72 finder?

[jmilkins]

Hello all

I want your collective wisdom - will the full frame of an M2, M4 or M5 .72 finder suffice for a 28mm field of view without a supplementary finder? I've read a couple of posts that aren't positive.

I'd like an earlier M (2 or 5, or if I had $ a 4 ) and want to mount a 28 (komura 28/3.5) but I like the sense of using most or all of the finder. e.g I like the the 40 frames on my R3a.

Should I just save for an M6 for a 28? But then I lose the perceived early Leica feel...

advice appreciated.

 

[ferider]

Works very well. A small 28 (I use the color skopar) and the M2 are a great combo.
Use a 28/90 adapter for an LTM lens and the 90mm frames help composing (1/3rd).

Roland.

 

[jmilkins]

thank you Manny and Roland - much appreciated.

I have an aux finder which allows for parallax for this lens (it tilts the hot shoe mount as you dial in the distance on a scale) so could use it for close up as required.

hmnn an M2 or m5....some thinking to do.

 

[Jacob]

You could send Your M2 to Solms and let them put in the M6 frames (€~250). Old school feeling and parallax 28mm frame, but not the clean finder of pre M4P...
Best
Jacob

 

[ZivcoPhoto]

As I mentioned previously on this forum, that after 6 months with my "new" 28mm v4 on my M4 I was not able to get used to accurately framing 28mm shots. I finally broke down and got the finder from Stephen.

I do wear glasses and I tend to shoot the complete negative....I rarely crop anything...so accurate framing is really important.

Roland, please detail the 90mm frameline trick.

After using a IIIF for quite a while, viewfinders aren't really a nuisance, again. as long as I get an accurate framing.

 

[ferider]

28mm is almost 30mm.

If you are used to 1/3rd composition, just use the corners of the 90mm
frame, for example for the eye of a person, etc. For example this one

was composed like this and a little cropped afterwards. (CV 28/1.9).

Best,

Roland.

 

[pvdhaar]

Although the 28mm field of view may roughly correspond to the edges of the viewfinder, I find that on my M4 at least, the 35mm framelines are just at the limits of what I can handle comfortably. And that's with my eye against the finder, and I don't wear glasses. Looking outside the 35mm frame means moving the eye around, something that I find very distracting. You can see that the 35mm framelines are already pushing the limits of the finder, as there's a lot of difference in illumination of the left vs. right side lines.

I'd suggest handling one of the mentioned models before buying and checking out whether you'd be comfortable viewing outside the 35mm frames.

 

[Doug]

I pretty much agree with Peter's comment just above, but I don't agree that the full M2 viewfinder window corresponds at all with the 28mm field of view. Nowhere close, as I just barely can see the 35mm frames all at once in peripheral vision. If I move my eye a bit to see more clearly the limits at the the left, then I lose the right side (with no glasses). How could this be usable for an even wider view of 76 degrees vs 63 deg for the 35mm...

I understand that at some point, the M6 I guess, when 28mm frames were added to the .72x finder, that the frames were smaller to make room for the 28... seems rather strange, unless at the same time the viewfinder optics were made more "wide-field" than before to see a wider view in the same magnification.

Peter offers a sensible final suggestion to check it out physically for oneself... 🙂

 

[jmilkins]

yes I agree that I'd want to trial a .72 finder without the 28 frame to see how much of an issue it would be.

My experience with the 100% frame on my Minolta 9 SLR was that I like it but I don't think I was overly critical in framing , and I rarly felt the need to crop. I'm not expecting that accuracy in RF of course.

My use of the R3a tells me that I'm not always seeing the full 40mm framelines - they are so close to the edge that I just use the full frame as the guide - that's what i'm hoping for in the .72 older finder with a 28mm.

My favorite focal length in use with the Bessa R3a is actually the 50 - I love the single framelines with a bit of space. So a 35mm on the . 72 might be similar to the 50, but I see more easily with a 28mm because of SLR and Ricoh GR1, Oly XA4 and now GRD heritage.

Thanks for the further samples and thoughts.

 

[James (DC)]

I got very used to using the whole viewfinder on my M2 for the 28mm focal length. It takes a while, but can work very nicely.