Brighten your Rangefinder

There was a old thread about people putting gel filters by cutting them to fit on that window. I put blue automotive window tint film on my Topcon RF to increase the contrast and it did help. That may be another alternative to try and you can experiment with different coloured gel filters to see which works best for you.

Bob
 
The gel sheet on the window is an old idea. I got it back in the early '70s from an estate sale Leica TM body that had it taped and the wife said the housband had bought the camera new and the tape thing had been on it for as long as she remember. I've used it from time to time since and the easiest thing to do is get a gel sampler from a manufacturer that contains a sample of each available gel and then spend some time trying and seeing what does the best for you. I think I paid about the same for the sampler as for a gel sheet and it had several hundred pages. With some cameras, a gel hue that worked well on one camera did not do as well as some other hue on another camera. Also, different lighting conditions can effect the results so I used to carry a small assortment in an envelope that was set up for each camera.
 
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Yea, I am sure both ideas have been around a long time. Sometimes nothing will work to help with a dim screw mount Leica RF patch except to have the beam splitter replaced. I had to have that done on two LTMs.

Bob
 
Guys,
I saw the drawing, but I'm not sure I got the working principle... could you enlighten me a bit more ? If that's so easy and effective, why manufacturers just don't do that ?
 
Dino - Putting a patch on the viewfinder makes the place where the 'moving image part' from the smaller RF window is seen, black in the primary image. Thus one focusses by aligning lines that extend through the RF area vertically, between the moving part from the little window, and the main window. There is no overlap, and one does not see two images on top of one another, that snap into clarity when proper focus is achieved.

RF folks are used to that phenomenon, as it is very versatile, and does not rely on lines running vertically through the focus patch. If manufacturers did this to RF systems out of the factory, RF cameras would be less capable.

It is a stop-gap measure for an RF system that masks other optical problems.
 
Chris101 said:
Dino - Putting a patch on the viewfinder makes the place where the 'moving image part' from the smaller RF window is seen, black in the primary image. Thus one focusses by aligning lines that extend through the RF area vertically, between the moving part from the little window, and the main window. There is no overlap, and one does not see two images on top of one another, that snap into clarity when proper focus is achieved.

RF folks are used to that phenomenon, as it is very versatile, and does not rely on lines running vertically through the focus patch. If manufacturers did this to RF systems out of the factory, RF cameras would be less capable.

It is a stop-gap measure for an RF system that masks other optical problems.
Click to expand...

RIGHT ON! Great explanation - thanks -
 
I did this on a few old RFs before. It really works. I used a thick black marker. I thought this was common knowledge "old news" but it's okay to revisit it or re-post. Perhaps RFF should have a RF "Tips and Tricks" posty. However, I can vouch for this - it's a great tip to get better contrast out of a faded (or not very good to start) RF patch.
 
Would there be any use to doing this on an M6? I have been using a dark filter over the frame line illuminator window to reduce the flare.
 
I think the first sensible thing to do is to use a piece of yellow(ish) gel filter over the frame line illuminator window. That's what I've done with almost all of my my Canon rangefinders and Barnacks / Barnack copies. I did try the black spot method with an earlier XA I had and a Yashica G but I wasn't too impressed.
 
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How does darkening the VF increase the brightness of the RF? The problem is the beamsplitter aging causing the RF to become darker. This only increases the apparent contrast to say the best. Yes it works in the sense that you'll focus easier but it would still be darker.
 
? ?

? ?

This sounds like a great idea, but . . . I just tried it on my Fuji645 and it certainly brightened up the center spot, but there is only one centerspot image now . . . as I move the focusing knob, there are no longer two images in the centerspot - just one !

How do you focus now ?

never mind . . . I read the above more closely :D
 
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Funny, I just read about this today and was going to post about it here. :)

Anyway, I don't think it's fair to say that it 'increases contrast', since it doesn't. It simply converts your multi-image rangefinder to being a split image style finder (like the split prisms in manual SLRs). Instead of two images inside the little patch which you focus, you now have one image inside the patch which you line up with the surrounding viewfinder. It's a matter of taste as to whether you like it.

Btw, Rick recommends black permanent marker. How do you remove the permanent marker from the glass?
 
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I did this my Olympus XA and it worked like a charm. Without the tape, the RF patch is essentially nonexistent. With the tape, it turned it back into a perfectuly usable camera.
 
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