Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]M.E.Berube - GoodPhotos wrote: > > At 01:31 PM 6/30/00 -0700, Dave Rodgers asked: > >My M3 lacks a preview lever. <snip> That leads me to another > >point. I can't remember ever using the preview lever on my M6. It makes me > >wonder how important PV really is. Anyone out there find PV essential. > > I'm on a very low Leica budget at the moment. I have a CL, an M5, a 40/2 > Summicron-C and a LTM 9cm Elmar with an adapter. I picked up a 133/2.8 > Russian Tair-11 the other day on eBay for under $40. I haven't had much > call for a 135 on my Leicas but the fast 2.8 was too tempting to play with > at $40 so I bought it. The Lens is a fat and HEAVY non-coupled chrome LTM. > For maximum versatility and budget reasons, I have determined to buy only > LTM lenses for my M5 and to get the generic three ring adapter set from Mr. > Gandy, but haven't as yet got a round tuit so I now use the 90 LTM > M > adapter on the 133 to pull up the 135 frame using the preview lever to > compose. Given the short DOF of the lens wide open, it is so far only > proving useful at infinity or thereabouts. (70 or more meters) I suppose an > accessory Range Finder would be indispensable if I had call to use the lens > for other than play at closer than infinity and wide open. > > I also used the preview on my M5 quite a bit when still learning where the > excellent 40 Summicron-C extremes exist in the VF that doesn't have frames > for it. The 40 brings up the 50 frame on my M5 (I suppose so that the user > will ere on the side of caution...if one uses the 50 frame for all > composition when a 40 is on the camera, all elements WILL be in the shot) > but the actual lines are much closer to the 35. (5mm closer by my math.) I > now have got pretty good at eyeballing the proper frame but the preview > helped a lot when learning the camera. > > All in all, like the clockwork self timer, I think the preview lever is one > of those features that make Leicas more enjoyable and versatile. I'm a > small guy (5'9" 170#) but unlike most Leica shooters, I LIKE a heavy metal > camera with no plastic or LEDs at all. After lugging an RB67 outfit around > everywhere for 4 years when I first got into professional photography, the > M5 outfit is a feather weight. Yeah, it's not as graceful looking as an M3, > 2, 4 or 6's but all those neat features it has outweigh all that for me. > Now...if we could see a non-TTL flash M6 thick black paint (black dot) with > self timer, 8* match needle spot meter, large shutter speed dial, with > speeds visible in the VF and X & M synch ports like the M5, and the all > metal advance lever of the M3...we'd have MY idea of a perfect M mount > camera. Father Leitz are you listening? > > Carpe Lumen, > Michael E. Berube > http://www.goodphotos.com While your math shows the 40 mm closer to the 35 in coverage, you can use the 50 mm frame line quite well for anything but extreme close ups. The frame lines in your M-5 are only accurate for a mounted slide at the closest focusing distance. As you focus more towards infinity the frame lines include more and more than will be on your negatives. So the 50 mm frame line for the forty for most situations is very close. John Shick