Which Leica Ms are glasses-friendly? Plus bonus questions.

[hlockwood]

I wear glasses and I use an M6 .72 with the rubber eyepiece. No problems with 35mm frames.
with old M3, I was using it with this eyepiece patch from Aki asahi:
http://aki-asahi.com/store/html/patch/M2M3/eyepiece/
a very good solution.

Does the aki-asahi patch fit the M7 and M9-P?

HFL

 

[Robert Lai]

I use Don Goldberg's eyepiece protection rings on all of my cameras, from M2 to M7. No scratches on my plastic Costco glasses. Unless you get a 0.58X viewfinder camera, you will have trouble seeing the entire 35mm frameline, and the 28mm framelines require panning and scanning with your eyeball.

A cheaper alternative: Bessa R or R2. They have 0.6X viewfinder magnifications, and are far cheaper than a Leica M. Any Nikon eyepiece (new from B&H, and about $19.00) has a rubber ring, and it will fit the Bessa viewfinder (if the Bessa is lacking its viewfinder glass).

Canadian Ms are just as good a Wetzlar / Solms Ms, as long as they've been maintained.

 

[Daryl J.]

Have worn glasses since I was in 5th grade.
Hooray for myopia....yuck.
No issue with the viewfinders in my M's. None.
No issue with scratched lenses either.

Hope that helps.

 

[asimplefarmer]

i am near sighted and ponyed up the money for the Leica corrective lens attachment. It works on my m240 and m4. about $120

 

[Huss]

I wear glasses and I use an M6 .72 with the rubber eyepiece. No problems with 35mm frames.
with old M3, I was using it with this eyepiece patch from Aki asahi:
http://aki-asahi.com/store/html/patch/M2M3/eyepiece/
a very good solution.

I tried those and find the DAg protective rings to be much better.
DAG ones stay on no matter what, the stick on ones come off from rubbing in your camera bag, or if you wear the camera with a strap just from the camera rubbing against your torso.

 

[Mjd-djm]

I use an M2 with glasses all the time, pressing my glasses up to the eyepiece every day. I have never scratched them at all. In fact I've never had any problems wearing glasses with any Ms.

 

[ForestCap]

I'm a eye-glass wearer too and I prefer shooting with eye-glass on all the time. If you do not have to buy an M camera, try Bessa-R or Canon 7. Both are LTM cameras, both have 35mm framelines that can be used by glass-wearers without struggling, both are much cheaper than Ms but having the same or more functions as most Ms.

 

[Huss]

I use an M2 with glasses all the time, pressing my glasses up to the eyepiece every day. I have never scratched them at all. In fact I've never had any problems wearing glasses with any Ms.

Until I bought the protective rings my M3 and M5 scratched up my glasses.

 

[filmtwit]

I've never had any problems with scratching my glasses when using an M6 or M7.
Though the 28mm lines are not as easy to use with the glasses on.

 

[grouchos_tash]

I've never had problems with viewfinders scratching my glasses however, when I have to press my eye to see the 35mm framelines I get smudges from my eyebrow haha

 

[Samuel D]

Thanks for that explanation of the metal eyepieces, Peter de Waal. I wondered why that was ever acceptable to Leica (and other companies), since eyeglasses were commonplace long before the fifties. The move from glass to plastic lenses explains it.

My glasses also have Zeiss lenses, but they are plastic. I went into my optician thinking I would get glass lenses, but he talked me out of it. I regret that now, because the plastic lenses do scratch too easily (though much less so than my previous Hoya lenses, which were ruined by scratches in two years).

I guess my remaining questions are:

1. Can the eyepiece (or surround if it’s separate) of an M2, M4, or M6 be unscrewed by the user? If so I could do the swap myself if I acquired an M6 eyepiece.
2. Are the M2, M4, and M6 eyepieces all compatible with each other? From online reading, I think the M4 (and derivatives) and M6 are compatible, but no-one is definitive about this simple question.

Geoffallen: I’m not a fan of the M4-P’s red dot either, but I’d like to have the Leica model that was current when I was born in 1981. Just a fun, silly idea.

A self-timer would be useful (for self portraits of me and my bicycle on solo trips), but I also like the visual and philosophical simplicity of having as few features as possible. Decisions, decisions.

I think the model I get, if I go ahead with this, will depend on which one I find in the right condition. Ideally I’d buy directly from a noted repairer who can guarantee the camera’s condition or assure it’s had a CLA in the recent past. Where should I look for something like that?

The gurus I’ve been told about are Youxin Ye, DAG, Sherry Krauter (all outside the EU customs union), and CRR Luton in the UK. The websites are terrible (stock probably not reliable) or show no cameras for sale. Any others?

 

[a.noctilux]

Samual, if you are in Paris, you can go to ask Photo Suffren or Leica Store Boulevard Beaumarchais where they have some Leica M second hand.
In Paris where I lived (years ago), some Leica dealers do exist and they (most..) are friendly.

Self-timer is only available in M2, M3, M4, M5, etc.
Not available on M4-2 or M4-P and later 😱.