Leica 1.25% Eyepiece Magnifier: Good or Bad?

Clarifying: It magnifies the existing eyepiece image by a factor of 1.25 or 25% bigger. So an M3 .58 eyepiece becomes a .72, a .72 becomes a .90, and a .85 becomes a 1.06.
 
Good!

Good!

landryrk said:
Clarifying: It magnifies the existing eyepiece image by a factor of 1.25 or 25% bigger. So an M3 .58 eyepiece becomes a .72, a .72 becomes a .90, and a .85 becomes a 1.06.

I use one all the time, with the 90mm & 135mm. I sometimes use it with my 40mm.
I thought all M3's had a .91 viewfinder, I know mine does.
 
I use it

I use it

It's very usefull in that it increases your confidence in focusing accuracy. In fact with the 90 &135 it must surly help. I can't say because I only have the 50mm.
I would say that from my experience with the 50mm it is made to use with anything above the 50mm. I ended up taking it off. For the following reason:

The viewfinder image gets magnified 25%, but understand that with the 50mm you can no longer easily see the framelines. They are there but with the magnifier attached you are seeing less of the whole image, right? It's magnified 25%. So you no longer see what's going on outside of the framelines.

I imagine you would not use it with a 35mm or wider lens.
 
I read a post that said that with this 1.25x magnifier, it's hard to see the 35mm frameline on later M3s. Not a problem for me with my 50mm, but there has to be an optical downside to this gizmo. of course it would help focusing my 90mm F2 Summicron tank.
 
I have one of the Hong Kong copies. May not be quite as slick as the official version (e.g., the Hong Kong version lacks the little chain to keep it attached to the camera even when screwed off the viewfinder - which makes dropping it a very easy thing to do!), but it works well. Couldn't see spending what the official one sells for. Am very happy with mine.
 
I've always liked the extra area view of the .72 finder with a 50mm lens, had and sold, a Leica 1.25x magnifier because of this. It was nice to use with the 90 but for the price thought an extra body in the form of an M3 would be a better 'replacement'. Had a .85 finder for awhile and got to like the larger view even with a 35mm lens, so...

Just bought another to give it second try and am liking it more as I use it. With the newer short throw 50 Summilux (pre-ASPH 46 thread) I have now I feel it increases the focus accuracy, makes for a larger rangefinder patch (especially good with the kids), bigger all over view for composing, and the general easy of focus is giving me more confidence. I like it. The only disadvantage I find now is the thing sticks out and I have adjusted my usual way of holding the camera face-to-camera a bit. Again, especially good with a 90 combined to a .72 finder, even and if you are using it with an M3 would give you a better 1:1 view.
 
M3 + 35mm frame lines?

M3 + 35mm frame lines?

landryrk said:
I read a post that said that with this 1.25x magnifier, it's hard to see the 35mm frame line on later M3s. Not a problem for me with my 50mm, but there has to be an optical downside to this gizmo. of course it would help focusing my 90mm F2 Summicron tank.

What M3 has 35mm frame lines? I've never heard of that.
Like I said earlier, I use mine all the time. I have the HK Generic version, but it works as good as my friends Leica version, and at less than 1/3 the cost.
 
Back
Top Bottom