Leica Goodies Shade

[ray_g]

Anyone with experience with the "Shade" from Leica Goodies? How effective is it at dealing with the M6's RF patch flare, and does it cut down on the patch brightness in normal lighting? Thanks.

 

[ray_g]

Nice to know. I think I may pass on it then. The patch flare really bothered me when I shot that concert in Prague due to the lighting, but otherwise I can live with it.

 

[vrgard]

Ray,

I had one on the first M6 when I bought it. I removed it because the framelines were darker than I liked.
IMO, the patch flare issue is not a big deal. Does happen rarely and typically in situation when a classic
lens will risk to ghost, etc. So in a way it's a good indicator ....

Roland.

That's an excellent point and one that I, frankly, hadn't thought about before. I recently took two shots back-to-back where I knew I was shooting heavily into the sun. Used my hand to shade the second one and the result was very apparent. I'll post them here to show what I mean. Note that these were taken with an M3 and a rigid 50mm cron lens (and were only as part of a test roll for a newly received lens) so they have nothing directly to do with an M6 patch flare issue (which I have experienced but only infrequently and found it easy to deal with). But to support what Roland said, if the M6 patch does flare in a given instance then it would be a great tip-off to avoid getting the first shot below rather than the second.

-Randy

 

[erickang]

It might be more apparent with glasses as the "whiteout' happens when your eye position is slightly off from the 'correct' angle with the viewfinder IMO. The whiteout was happening almost all the time to me as I do wear glasses.

With the shade on, I am happy without having the problem. What most bothered me was not being able to capture an important moment due to the annoying whiteout.

 

[Crasis]

It might be more apparent with glasses as the "whiteout' happens when your eye position is slightly off from the 'correct' angle with the viewfinder IMO. The whiteout was happening almost all the time to me as I do wear glasses.

With the shade on, I am happy without having the problem. What most bothered me was not being able to capture an important moment due to the annoying whiteout.

So Erickang, you would recommend the Leica goodies shade for glasses wearers? I guess it's not very expensive to give it a try. I'm still hoping for an eventual upgrade to the MP finder but .. it's a bit much at the moment.

 

[erickang]

So Erickang, you would recommend the Leica goodies shade for glasses wearers? I guess it's not very expensive to give it a try. I'm still hoping for an eventual upgrade to the MP finder but .. it's a bit much at the moment.

Crasis, if I move my eye a little bit right or left, I can always find a small window that clears out the whiteout even under a very nasty whiteout. Having said that if I can position my eye against the viewfinder exactly, consistently right at the line I might be able to live with it without a shade or mp finder. With glasses on, it simply is too much sometimes.

I would say Yes, if the whiteout bothers you too much, the shade would be a cheap solution. Some friends of mine just got a iced flapuccino (hope I got the name right) from Starbucks and cut the plastic cup to make their own "Shade". That's the cheapest I think.

Next time when I send my m6 for overhauling, I do also consider the upgrade but I am just happy with the small plastic at the moment.

 

[Ron F]

Ray,

I had one on the first M6 when I bought it. I removed it because the framelines were darker than I liked.
IMO, the patch flare issue is not a big deal. Does happen rarely and typically in situation when a classic
lens will risk to ghost, etc. So in a way it's a good indicator ....

Roland.

Roland,

Is this assuming that the lens does not have a shade? What I really mean is, if I'm using a shade on my 60's era 50mm Elmar (which lives on the lens) is the finder more likely to flare even when lens shade prevents the lens from flaring?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[Crasis]

I meant it is just an indicator for me that I have to be careful (nothing scientific). On some of my lenses I get ghosts,
even with shade, when almost shot against a bright light source. See for instance

Canon 50/1.2 (on M2) with shade with a halogen lamp right over me. Depends on the lens, and don't know about the Elmar. But the Elmar
hood seems pretty deep.

Roland.

Hahahaha! That's so cute! I had no idea what you meant by ghosts but look at the little guys! Aww.. they're haunting you 🙂

On a more serious note.. although that was pretty serious.. cause that ghosting is cute! Back to those that have had the shade on. I don't find the framelines all that useful for my purposes since I know where they should be anyway. I'm also an eyeglass wearer so the 35 framelines are.. well almost out of my vision.

How is the contrast of the focusing patch? Is it useable in say, a dark bar situation? Is the slight darkening of it worth it for the lack of flare? I know that with inside lighting, it starts to flare like crazy. I want to shoot in the dark, so I'd like to know its uhm.. night properties I guess.