Try a yellow tape, it's awesome

[danielmk2]

Hey guys, last week I put a yellow filter in front of my M7 and bang! The frame lines become yellow, and it seems easier to be seen in the dark. So I sticked a piece of transparent yellow tape in front of the frame line window, and it works great.

But somehow I realize that the brightness of the frameline is lower, but the color makes it "brighter"

 

[rover]

Very interesting.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Okay. So I looked at this and thought, "Yellow LED in front of the frameline windows". I did that for a Nikon DL-1 illuminator. Make the framelines brighter, and reduce possibility of RF patch flare.

Where's Tom A...

 

[raid]

Who owns the patent to this invention?

 

[lrrp77]

Same concept as this?:

http://www.leicagoodies.com/shade.html

 

[rxmd]

Okay. So I looked at this and thought, "Yellow LED in front of the frameline windows". I did that for a Nikon DL-1 illuminator. Make the framelines brighter, and reduce possibility of RF patch flare.

Where's Tom A...

I did that for the M5, where it's doubly useful for the meter readout - the meter scale can be hard to read already under lighting conditions wihere the meter still works fine.

 

[rogerzilla]

Same idea as an ORAKO or an OKARO.

 

[sc_rufctr]

Hey guys, last week I put a yellow filter in front of my M7 and bang! The frame lines become yellow, and it seems easier to be seen in the dark. So I sticked a piece of transparent yellow tape in front of the frame line window, and it works great.

But somehow I realize that the brightness of the frameline is lower, but the color makes it "brighter"

Cool! Gives it a Euro look

 

[tmfabian]

+1 for excellence...it works pretty well, granted i didn't have any yellow tape and actually used a green sharpy and some clear tape...

 

[Bill58]

My repair guy did the same w/ yellow glass on my Canon Model P and I luv it.

 

[btgc]

Good inventions are made many times

Petri RF's used this trick, too.


petri 1.9 color super_0872 by mondays child, on Flickr


Petri 7S by Green_Power, on Flickr

As well as on some other models:
http://www.on-photos.net/appareils_anciens/petri_19_ccs_2.php?id_marque=34

Petri also did it with blue tinted glass - Petri Blue Magic Scope, basicall very similar to model 7.

http://www.collection-appareils.fr/Petri/html/petri_blue_magic_scope.php

Bluish tint were used also by Yashica in Electro rangefinders, though internally, one couldn't tell from exterior.

 

[naruto]

So, if the brightness of my RF window is high (the contrast patch is barely visible sometimes), can I apply the same trick on my M2?

 

[capito]

Would it make sense to make the rangefinderpatch itself yellow (too) ?

 

[rlouzan]

You beat me to it!
Yellow, orange and red ORAKO filters
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107964

Same idea as an ORAKO or an OKARO.

 

[séamuis]

I would prefer the green like my petri. id like to try this myself on my bessa. but where might one procure such tape?

 

[danielmk2]

I guess different color will have different effect and taste

This is what I use, transparent yellow sheet with adhesive http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160607399071&viewitem=#ht_500wt_1182

This method only affect the frame lines, the 135mm frame line is still white when the light source is mainly straight forward because some of the light for 135mm comes from another window. If I put a yellow filter in front of the small RF window at the same time, all the frame lines including the RF patch are yellow.

naruto, I don't think this method will help with your contrast problem of M2

 

[johannielscom]

Best results on my nearly faded M3 RF is an orange filter over the VF. The yellow from the RF and framelines stands out the most with that combo, so I'll likely have some life left in that VF/RF.