Increasing Viewfinder Brightness

paniolo

Established
Local time
3:15 PM
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
197
Hello Photographers,
is there a way to increase the CL's viewfinder brightness?
I imagine to lift the top plate and remove the innerds. Especialy the Prisms and Glass between the back- and frontglass.

Of course the rangefinder is out of order after it, but I just want a very clean view without any colour tints and extra glasses that dim it.

Is that possible?

Regards
Paniolo
 
Make a wire sports finder like the ones on a speed graphic. You might even find one for the FL you use.
 
Guys, I did not ask for external viewfinders.
My finder looks clean compared to other CL's.

I just want to get rid of these prisms and mirrors inside, to brighten it up. Is it possible to remove them or would it make the entire viewfinder useless?
 
I don't understand what you mean when you ask if removing the prism from your rangefinder would make it useless. Maybe look into a Rollei 35 or a Leica M1?
 
The CL has also light-meter needle and frame-lines visible in the VF so simply removing the prism block might not be a that easy. Best to ask Sherry Krauter about this.
 
Yay, the meter needle can be a problem. Actualy I'm not sure where it sits exactly. The frame for the framelines sits behind the frostglass, so it can stay where it is.

I've found this.
Leitz-Leica-CL-Cut-Away.jpg


It's a bit small but you can see this 45° mirror inside the main viewfinder that makes it dim, if I'm correct.
 
It's a bit small but you can see this 45° mirror inside the main viewfinder that makes it dim, if I'm correct.

No. It merges the rangefinder spot and framelines with the main image. The light loss is fairly small - one stop even if it should be oriented the wrong way around (where the rangefinder and framelines would be misplaced), much less for a properly assembled one.

There is not really anything to be done to the CL viewfinder, unless you are prepared to spend money that would buy you a M6 or M7 - finder brightness primarily is a result of size and magnification, and you cannot alter the former, and would have to have someone design and fabricate an entire new optical system for it to change the latter - only to have spent a small fortune on getting a proportionally smaller finder image, compared to a M series Leica...
 
Back
Top Bottom