[Leica] The Zeiss Choice

[billgem at hotmail.com (Bill Marshall)]

On Thursday, Frank Fillippone wrote:
>"The issue of focusing a RF lens to.5m has 2 components . . . the movement 
>of the lens focusing helix to .5m, and the parallax so that the 2 images 
>line up at .5m. Given that no one has ever done this before, I suspect that 
>the parallax adjustment in the rangefinder is the problematic part. The 
>third issue is what part of the image area is obscured by the lens when you 
>look through the viewfinder at .5m."

Frank, starting with your last point first, I did not see a significant 
problem with any wide angle lenses obscuring the viewfinder at any focal 
length when I looked at the prototype in New York, although I wasn't 
specifically looking for this issue. Some thought was given to this camera 
when it was designed. In order to create a longer base line, the viewfiner 
was moved about as close to the edge of the body as is physically possible. 
This was accomplished by moving the rewind lever to the bottom of the body - 
a move that is unpopular with some people. Having the viewfinder moved 
farther from the lens would minimize any problems with obstruction of the VF 
window, I expect.

Agreed that parallax is an issue. Leica seemed to be able to focus the 50 DR 
down to 18", so I assume that RF focus is possible, but someone will correct 
me if I'm wrong. However, I would think that parallax adjustment for 
framelines is a bigger problem. All of these close focusing lenses except 
the 28 require accessory viewfinders, so I assume that the problem is 
handled there. It will be interesting to see how parallax compensation for 
the 28 is handled, once the camera is available. The literature indicates 
that the accessory viewfinder for the 25 doubles as a VF for the 28. Since 
framelines for the 28 are built into the VF, it's possible that the 
accessory finder provides better framelines for close-up focus - unless it 
is just an alternative finder for folks with glasses.