Leicaflex standard finder mystery

[_goodtimez]

Hi folks,

A strange situation happens to me. I purchased a Leicaflex Standard the other day with a Summicron 50mm lens.
When I looked throught the finder with my right eye I found it difficult to focus as the center of the image appeared a little blurry.
When I used my left eye it was OK.

I just checked my eyes at at the anuual medical inspection at work and they are both good: 10/10. I made a quick check at home reading both a close and far range with alternatively using my left then the right eye and there is nothing wrong.

So I just grabbed a few other SLR camera that I have, Nikon Fs and Pentax and I can easily focus with any eye through the finder and the center of the image in the finder of those cameras is nice and sharp.
On the same register I have no problem focusing with any eye on all of my rangefinders.

So what is this mystery here with the Leicaflex ?

 

[sevo]

I just checked my eyes at at the anuual medical inspection at work and they are both good: 10/10.

The regular test is purely functional and does not catch hyperopia, as long as the eye can still compensate at all tested distances. If the finder deviates towards negative values (perhaps by having a myopia correction lens installed), it will use up the accommodation capacity of your eyes, and if one eye is more hyperopic than the other, it may be affected first, while for the other the finder image still is in visible distance.

 

[_goodtimez]

Thanks for your answer.
Since this does not happen with any other camera but the Leicaflex I would be interested to know if anyone experienced the same behavior.

 

[rlouzan]

Probably decementing of the pentaprism.

 

[nobbylon]

Probably decementing of the pentaprism.

why do you come to that conclusion?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Has it a correction eyepiece already installed, perhaps one with cylindrical correction that suits one eye and not the other? A minor fault that is reinforced, not corrected, might explain things. Pure speculation, but (just) worthy of consideration.

Cheers,

R.

 

[_goodtimez]

Has it a correction eyepiece already installed, perhaps one with cylindrical correction that suits one eye and not the other? A minor fault that is reinforced, not corrected, might explain things. Pure speculation, but (just) worthy of consideration.

Cheers,

R.

The finder eyepiece is square and I did not notice anything attached to it. I did not know that cylindrical correction existed and maybe that was the case on this camera...
Anyway I returned it as the seller advertized it as exceptional condition but it had corrosion on the film rails and fungus in the finder and smelled like fungus big time.

 

[sevo]

By literature the Leicaflex might have had a slightly unusual dioptre default of 0 (infinity). The majority of modern SLR cameras have a bias towards shortsighted vision (apparent distance of the finder image 1 to 0.5m).

And the Leicaflex had a bright aerial image finder, which makes dioptre errors more obvious.

 

[leicapixie]

I used a certain SLR professionally for many years.
After a few hours I had severe headaches..
My Leica M3 never did this!
We became inseparable.
I used a Leica SLR 1, with no ground-glass.
It was awful for me.
The whole point of an SLR "seeing beautiful" negated.
Later I added a Nikon-F.
No headaches ever. I was short sighted (myopic).
I learned that my original SLR bodies are all set for
"Far sighted"folks..Pentax..well not the whole screen, but meter and focus areas are not equal..
I would think it was you.. maybe astigmatism?
Mine has changed over the years, no glasses needed for all day BUT my arms have shrunk for reading..😀

 

[GarageBoy]

Remember the Leicaflex standard focusing screen is a matte field with a large microprism spot- the field is not usable for focusing - are you having a hard time because it's purely a microprism?

 

[_goodtimez]

No actually I have no problem with just microprisms. Only with this camera and my right eye I feel it hard to focus.
I am performing annual deep level eye inspection because of my specific job and so far no problem with my eyes.