Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/07/14

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Subject: [Leica] Was WTB: Nikon AR-1 soft release now finders
From: grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey at mchsi.com)
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:42:54 -0500 (CDT)

Marty,

I'm sure you are correct as to the modern DSLRs.  But then the older Nikon 
and Canon SLR finders still do not compare to the Leica R8/9 & SL 
viewfinders.  My F3HP vf is not even close to my R8 vf.

Cheers,
Gene

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marty Deveney" <benedenia at gmail.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 7:31:19 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: [Leica] Was  WTB: Nikon AR-1 soft release now finders

You need to remember what they're _for_.

> It's really depressing that N and C have such poor finders.

To be fair to Canon and Nikon, modern SLRs have very good finders for
autofocus with lenses of moderate aperture, which is what they're
designed for, but when you depart from that, it's like trying to take
a sports car onto a beach.

> I wanted to shoot the 12.5 Photar on the full frame 5D
> but with the extreme bellows factor
> I literally can hardly see through the view finder
> even at f:1.9
> The R8 is clear even fully stopped down.

The real difference with the R8 is that you are looking at a ground
glass focusing screen. As far as I can tell ALL modern AF SLRs use a
focusing screen that is an engineered light pipe with microlenses on
each surface, not ground glass. They only accept light from a narrow
field of view, and in effect each microlens has its own aperture.
They are much more efficient transmitters within their design spec,
which is why the view looks so bright in the store with that f2.8 or
f4-5.6 zoom, but are not so impressive with an f1.4 lens.  These are
very good if you're using an autofocus system, but much less good if
you're using an eye.

The problem lies in the comparison - a lot of us have transitioned
from manual focus cameras to dSLRs and have brought lenses and other
equipment along for the ride.  In a way it's better (including for the
manufacturers!) to just start from scratch.

Marty

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Replies: Reply from benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney) ([Leica] Was WTB: Nikon AR-1 soft release now finders)
In reply to: Message from benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney) ([Leica] Was WTB: Nikon AR-1 soft release now finders)