R3A Rangefinder Patch Brightness[flair]

[shiny]

I am a newbie on this forum. Hi! everyone.

I am a long time user of Leica M and just acquired an R3A. Very nice piece. I have one serious complaint about this camera and would like to discuss a remedy to the problem.

If this topic came up earlier, please someone direct me to the thread.

The problem is that light level emitted through the smaller viewing window is brighter than one through the main window. The light amount through the small window is so much that it even causes some constant contrast-lowering light flair on the image projected by the main window in the patch area. This problem makes focusing in a subdued light condition (or low contrast objects) very difficult and imprecise. This problem persisted over several samples I tried in a camera shop.

I think I found a remedy until the manufacturer comes up with a more permenant solution. You stick a thin (thickness) film with neutral density of XX (don't know exact value but will have to be very thin density-wise. Experiment until the double image appears to have same brightness) in front of the smaller window. Thicker (like glass) films have side effects such as rangefinder misalignment.

This arrangement will make focusing task possible once thouhgt not possible in the dark. This remedy is sort of like Mr. Konermann's shade, which is put over the illuminating window to solve another problem by Leica M6/7.

I do not know if this is a design parameter and done deliberately by Cosina but I definately prefer the modified version, which gives me much more positive feedback on whether I got the right focusing moment.

Thanks for bearing with me and hope to hear your thoughts on the issue.

Yong

 

[jlw]

Interesting. Many of us prefer the rangefinder patch to be as bright as possible; this is probably the parameter that Cosina sought in the design.

A suggestion borrowed from the past: instead of a neutral density filter, why not try a weak amber color-compensating filter 'gel', such as an 81A? These gel filters are very thin and very clear.

This would reduce the brightness, and also make the rangefinder image contrast more strongly by changing its color.

Leica used to make an orange filter to fit over the rangefinder window, for this very reason.

 

[shiny]

My complaint was that contrast thru the small window was much higher than one thru the larger window, and that makes focusing difficult especially in dark places. You can do a simple experiment. By block the small window (with your index finger, for example) and see if the contrast of the main window(patch area, that is) improves. The lowered contrast, I think, is contributable to light flair caused by the small window. Or do I have a bad sample here?