Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/09

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Subject: RE: [Leica] 1.25 Magnifier
From: "Frank Filippone" <red735i@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 07:14:33 -0700

Further review of the magnifier, in response to questions asked about its
advantages,,,,,,  The basis is the M6 with .72 or .85 VF image, and the
75/1.4 or 90/2AA lenses.  I no longer have a 50/1 to make comment, but the
50mm VF image is somewhat hard to see with the magnifier and a .72 body.

Do you wear glasses?  A pivotal question....

The magnified image, when used with the .72 and a 75 is maybe a bit bigger,
but a bit darker but more difficult to see than the .85 would be alone.  In
addition, the .85, with the magnifier, would give you a bigger image, but at
the cost of more difficult eye placement to get that image....

This sounds a bit more involved than it really is.... basically, if you can
afford to CARRY both the .72 and .85 bodies, the magnifier is a waste of
time, and inhibits ease of use.

I am not trying to talk you out of the magnifier, but its use, as in many
things, relates to the need for certain requirements to be met at the same
time.  It is a compromise.  That compromise is brightness, and eye placement
( ease if setting the eye in the "sweet spot" ) on one hand : and weight,
cost and flexibility on the other.

Is there an improvement in focus accuracy with the magnifier on?  Yes, but
the cost of that improvement is a darker image, which reduces focus accuracy
in a non-scientifically-predictable way.  It decreases contrast.

A further comment.... Using a RF camera is unlike an SLR.  You get to see
what is NOT in the frame, making your image choice from a bigger field
without moving the camera.... An SLR is a WYSIWYG product.  If you were
trained to use the M series in this way, the image you see with the
magnifier reduces that out of image area.  Is that an advantage?  that
depends on you.

Frank Filippone
red735i@earthlink.net

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