24mm M ASPH viewfinder image quality

[Bob Parsons <bobp@dodo.demon.co.uk>]

I also think that the 24mm ASPH is an outstanding lens, a real joy to
use, especially at full aperture in low light with light sources in
the picture. It's  also marvellous when stopped down including those
beautiful stars around lights!

However, I don't think the same can be said of the quality of the image
of the bright frame in the viewfinder under any conditions. I've found
the quality to be very variable between samples.

I've had the opportunity to examine three viewfinders so far. One
belonged to a secondhand lens which, for the short time I saw it, was
fine. I didn't buy as the lens was damaged. The second one came with
an ex-demo lens which I bought and the third was a replacement. The
bright line frame quality of the last two has been nowhere near as
good as the first one I saw.

The main problem with the replacement is although I can see the full
image area, not all sides of the bright line frame are illuminated at
the same time. If I move my eye from side to side or up/down the missing
sections "light up" but then the dark edge of the front of the viewfinder
case intrudes into the field of view. The original finder had this problem
as well as the image of the frame not being in the same  plane as the scene,
I couldn't focus on them both at the same time. It also showed parallax
between the frame and scene.

The dealer isn't happy with the viewfinder either and has offered to get
yet another one. I'm interested to know if other users have encountered
similar problems, or am I just unlucky. I've had a 21mm finder for the F3.4
Super Angulon for many years (another great lens) .... no problems at all.
What do other users think?

                               Bob Parsons.

email:  bobp@dodo.demon.co.uk