Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/20

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Subject: [Leica] reply to John.. Parallex..reply...LONG....
From: Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu>
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 08:19:26 -0600 (Central Standard Time)

 Is there a
> basic distance when I should start to think about the effect it will have on
> my framing or is it really dependant on the lens I'm using? I am used to
> croping things tight in the frame on an SLR and want to know if I need to
> shoot a little more "forgiving" with the RF...
> 
> Thanks
> -- 
> John 
There are two effects of "parallax".....one is the obvious--VF "sees" different 
area than lens...cut off heads are an EXTREME example.
The other is more subtle....the "viewpoint" of the finder and lens are different.
This causes the relationship between near and far objects to be slightly different.
If these juxtapositions are important to your composition, then it MAY be noticeable.
\
Having said all this, I've used Leicas (IIIf thru M6, nearly all) which had varying 
amounts of "parallax" correction, and NEVER noticed it....maybe I'm just not one 
who "composes" very thoughtfully, tho I doubt it...:)

I will say, that I've read and verified, however, that the M- finder frame set 
shows a little less than your film will...giving you more "error" room, unless 
you try to carefully compose the very edges of the frame.  Most all slrs do this 
too, showing only about 90-95% of the actual film areas.

The M camera strives to show the field of view of the lens at it's closest focusing 
distance (usually .7-1M)...the effective focal length is a little "longer" there, 
and the lens will show "more" of the field at infinity.

As one poster replied, tho, I can't say that I EVER worried about it, and I've 
NEVER been disappointed in my results from a Leica.  I use the old Nikon F (virtually 
100% finder accuracy) for macro, copy, and long tele (rare) work...this is usually 
only "work" related...ALL my personal photography has been done with Leicas for 
23 years.

An interesting sidebar:   I work in a department of "fine art"....never will you 
find folks so committed to "full frame" printing...some kind of "religeon" to 
some of them!!-----being predominately non-technical 
folks, however, they have NO clue that their prints are showing CONSIDERABLY more 
than their finder did!!!

Welcome to Leica M and enjoy your camera...if you need to do critical close-up 
work, buy either a Leica SLR (!!!) and macro, or another good brand...keep the 
M for everything else...I often hear of the "M" camera being a "specialized" tool, 
and accessory to one's SLR system, perhaps....I totally disagree...unless your daily 
photographys is outside the scope of the M (macro/long lens), then the M >>IS<< the 
best camera...SUPPLEMENTED with an SLR!!!...parallax be damned..:) :)

Walt


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