Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc Small: >>>All that an SLR gives you is a large, clunky, nasty, and unfocusable body. Very few SLR's, incidentally, have EVER provided a 100% VF. Most are around 90%<<< Most _Leica_ SLRs are around 90%, which is one of my longstanding gripes against them. There are currently only seven 100%-viewfinder SLRs on the market, the Contax RTS III, the Nikon F4, F5, and F3, the Canon EOS-1n and EOS-1n RS, and the Minolta Maxxum 9. The R8 has a 93% finder. Leica has always stated in its literature that this corresponds to the area not masked by a slide mount. Which of course seems a bit presumptuous to those of us who shoot black-and-white and print out to the clear film edge. <s> You have to watch how they compute the percentage, though--linearly or by area. The R8 is 97% if calculated linearly on the long dimension, 93% if calculated by area. Many of the cheaper cameras that might otherwise be useful to someone wishing to travel light are ruined by very poor finder coverage--I think the EOS Rebel manages to show you 87% of what you're going to get on film, for instance. It's a wonderful system--the camera shows you 87% of what it'll put on film, and the photofinisher prints 87% of your negative for you. Where's the problem? Yeeeesh. - --Mike