M6 viewfinder perspective

[unsharp]

I was out takning pictures with my M6 and 50mm Summicron yesterday.

As I was shooting some hilly landskape with treas in the foreground, I used the frame selector to see what view the 35mm Summicron would have given me instead.

Since the viewfinder/frame is showing me roughly what is in the plane of focus, but does not alter the perspective as I go from 50mm to 35mm, I'm wondering - what is the true perspective/angle of view of a .72 M6 viewfinder? Is it like the 50mm?

Anders

 

[richard_l]

Anders, the 35mm framelines will show (roughly) the field of view of a 35mm lens. Believe it or not, the perspective (angular relationships, foreshortening, etc.) depends only on the subject distance, not on the focal length of the lens. Therefore the perspective you see is also essentially correct.

 

[unsharp]

Thanks Richard,

Here I go again, bare with me...

I could interpret you answer in two ways, but I take it you're sying that the 35mm frame lines will give me the perspective of the 35mm lens.

To do that, the focal length of the optics in the .72 viewfinder needs to give the eye the vision of a 35mm perspective?

Then the 50mm frames are also showing this 35mm perspective, eventhough a bit cropped by the frames?

I'm really out on thin ice here, but if I would make a bet, the .72 viewfinder is showing a 28mm perspective that is croped and parallax directed depending on which frame and focus distance...

Anders

 

[unsharp]

Richard, Manolo,

It's comming to me now! I must not move my head for five minutes to keep this in 😀.

I realize you're correct, I got confused by the viewfinder "complication" as aposed to a SLRs finder.

Thanks a lot. A bit embarrasing to learn those basics at this elevated stage of photographing that a Leica M is providing me 😉

 

[FrankS]

The idea of photographic perspective (vis a vis different focal length lenses) is a very commonly misunderstood concept. I think Manolo is correct that most basic photo books do not expain it clearly.

 

[aizan]

i don't think the viewfinder even has a focal length...

 

[mad_boy]

No need to remember anything, just follow the following thought experiment
(Sounds like einstein does'nt it 😀 )

Imagine a large tree with a mountain in the back-ground.
If you stand close to it, the tree will be taler than the mountain (i.e. you see the sky behind the top of the tree).
If you stand far away the mountain will look taler (i.e. you see the the mountain behind the top of the tree).
That's what the members mean that your position determines the perspective.

Now the lenses. As said above, the lens does not change the perspective.
But if you want the tree filling the picture, you have two options:
Take it up close wiith 35mm, or from far away with 135.
Combine this with the thought experiment above and you know what will happen.
The 35 will show the tree small mountain in the background.
The 135 will show the tree with a little bit of mountain.

knowing this may help to improve your pictures. Moving closer or farther changes the image and in many cases will improve it.
In other words, first find the correct spot to take the picture from, then choose the correct lens to get the right frame.
As opposed to the common practice of staying where you are and zoom in on the primary object disregarding the for- and background.

Mad_boy.

 

[Fred]

Top explanation Mad_boy. I could not have put it batter myself.

 

[richard_l]

Good explanation, Mad!

 

[Doug]

Anders, these guys are right on... And don't go thinking that SLR viewfinders operate under some different rule with regard to perspective! It's all about your relative distances from objects in the scene, like mad_boy said. And angle of view is a separate matter. 🙂

 

[unsharp]

But when I turn the frame selector, the viewfinder on my M6 is zooming!






















Just joking 😀

Thanks a lot guys. Your explanation is very good and intuitive, Mad. I new how to use the tele/wide lenses and distance to alter perspective when I used my SLR. Somehow I lost it completelly. Or thought that different roules applied to RFs! Maybe it's the summer heat? Or age. On the good side, M is keeping the brain working...

Anders

PS, Mad_boy, are you the famous Alfred E Neuman? I'm a fan. DS.

 

[richard_l]

You're a good guy, Anders. Once I was trying to convince someone that merely changing focal length doesn't change perspective. So I used a zoom to take three pictures of the corner of a picnic shelter, one using 35mm, another 50mm, and another 90mm, all at the same distance. I cropped the images so that they all showed exactly the same field of view. Of course, the three pictures looked identical. However, even this visual proof didn't convince the guy. Obviously he had swallowed some misinformation along the way and was unwilling to let it go, even with strong evidence to the contrary.

 

[Ben Z]

Mad Boy's explanation is excellent. So to answer the original question using his example, if you moved in or out so that that tree was the same size in each of the M6s frame lines, the mountain would look the same as with a 50mm lens, not smaller with apparent expansion of subject-background as they would with 28 or 35mm lenses, or larger and with apparent compression of subject-background as they would with 90 and 135mm lenses.

 

[mad_boy]

Hi Anders,

Sorry, but I'm utterly non-famous and insignificant.
My only fan is my wife.

Mad_boy