Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>I too have wondered about the M6 and M6J magnification. I think the M6 >is a bit less than the M2/M4 and the M6J a bit less than the M3 but >don't have a source to verify this. Dennis, In the M3, the 50mm finder pretty much fills the viewfinder. The image you see throught the viewfinder is just a little smaller than life size. The M2, M4, etc. add a 35mm frame. The viewfinder image that you see is physically the same size, but since you now see a 35mm view that fills most of the viewfinder, it's a wider-angle view and is smaller than life size. The 50mm frame now floats in the middle of the viewfinder with a lot of empty space around it. The M4-P and M6 add the 28mm frame. Now the 35mm, 50mm etc, frames are smaller because they fit inside the 28mm frame, which now fills the viewfinder. Again, it's a wider angle view in a viewfinder that is physically the same size, so the magnification of the image is smaller than the M3 or M4 viewfinder. The 35mm frame now has empty space around it and 135mm frame is really tiny. So, if in the M3 you have a viewfinder with a 50mm angle of view and in the M6 you have a 28mm angle of view, and if both viewfinder images are the same size, then the 50mm frame on the M6 is going to be a lot smaller than it would be on the M3. The M3 viewfinder image is over 90% of life size, the M6 is something like 67% of life size, the M4 is in-between. Because of the larger magnification of the M3, its rangefinder is slightly more accurate than the other models, and the M4-type rangefinder is slightly more accurate than the M6. The tradeoff is that you can use more lenses without needing accessory viewfinders. I think the choice of body should depend a lot on the lenses you plan to use with it. For instance, if I wanted a body to use with 90 and 135mm lenses, I wouldn't pick the M4-P, and if I wanted to use mostly 28mm and 35mm, I wouldn't pick the M3 or M4. The M6 makes these kinds of choices hard, though, because the meter is so nice it overrides most other considerations. Personally, since I don't use 28mm much or need the 75mm frame, I'd love a body with the less cluttered M3 or M4-type viewfinder and the meter. - - Paul