Leica IIIc rangefinder window field of view

[cnphoto]

Does anyone happen to know the rangefinder windows approximate field of view?

In theory, if you could get a lens focal length who's FOV matched the VF FOV you may be able to do without an accessory finder. Of course, the RF window is not parralx corrected for that focal length... but it is an interesting thought, for me anyway.

 

[jmkelly]

IIRC the VF window frames up for the 50mm lens.

 

[Shac]

I've checked mine (in a IIIc) against an external 50 voigtlander/cosina viewfinder and they match up very well

 

[BTMarcais]

I think he's asking for the RF window, not the VF. I don't have one, so I'm not sure what it would be. I'd assume it would be a narrower FOV than 50mm...?

-Brian

 

[xayraa33]

Since the rf is 1.5x magnification, I would say a 75mm lens field of view would be approximate.

 

[cnphoto]

Since the rf is 1.5x magnification, I would say a 75mm lens field of view would be approximate.

that's roughly what I thought as well.

i'm looking to get a 75mm next month, i may borrow a 75mm accessory finder and shoot with the finder and VF and again with just the VF, and then with the lens on my M body and compare the results...

being able to use a 75mm on my IIIc and just use the RF window, then use the M4-P for wider lenses would be ideal, though I imagine it will not work for some reason or another IRL 😛

 

[Melvin]

I just checked my IIIf against my M5's frame lines, and the rangefinder window is closest to 135mm. I think it might work alright with a 90mm or 75mm. With parallax error it seems like a tight fit with 135.

 

[payasam]

I tried to use a 135mm lens with a Canon VT Deluxe. Hopeless, though the field of view was close.

 

[cricab1289]

This was a very long time ago, but I recently acquired a iiic and the elmar 9cm f4. How did your shots go with only the RF?

 

[Godfrey]

With my IIIc, I've used the in-built 50mm viewfinder with a 90mm lens, just estimating, and the rangefinder. It works fine, but it's much nicer/more accurate when I fit an appropriate clip-on viewfinder.

G

 

[Coldkennels]

I think there's an easier way to test this.

I opened Photoshop, created a 6x4 blank image, set up my IIIf and pointed the rangefinder at the blank image on my monitor:



First problem (aside from the chaos of my desk) is that the rangefinder window isn't a 6x4 rectangle - it's round. Any framing you do with it will have to take that into account. But, resizing the "image" in photoshop until it basically aligns with the sides of the rangefinder window and then swapping to the VIOOH and resizing the view in that to line up with the 6x4 image on the screen, and the closest you can get is the 135mm setting. Problem is, this is what the view looks like at 1m distance (with the VIOOH set to 1m):



So not only is the RF window horizontally tighter than 135mm, it's also going to cause a lot of parallax issues.

Personally, I'll just stick with the VIOOH, thanks!