Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Noel >>I was looking at a Leitz viewfinder, I believe it was a VIDOM, in a camera store yesterday. This finder had 35, 50, 90 and 135 settings. It had two index marks by the 135 setting, when turned to 135, it could be turned by hand to the next index mark, which gave a slightly smaller field of view, probably about a 150mm. The guy in the store had never noticed it before, and didn't know what it was meant to do, and he has a lot of experience. Can anyone tell me about this setting? I will likely buy the finder as I have a 135 Hektor arriving this week for my IId.<< When you focus a lens out as when focusing at very close distances, the image size on film will actually get smaller. Somewhat like zooming out or away from instead of toward something with a zoom lens. If the finder does not compensate for this you will unknowingly cut off the outer parts of your image. To correctly compensate for this the VIDOM and Imarect finders have two index lines, a short one and a long one. The long one is to be used as the index line to set the frame size you want to use when shooting at distances of over 6 feet. The short line should be used as the index when shooting at distances of 3 1/2 to 6 feet. The best way to remember is just by the length of the index lines. The long one for long distances and the short one for short distances. Hope this helps, Best, Don