Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hello Rei, I recently modified my Visoflex III. It is now as bright as my Leica R5! First I replaced the ground glass (yes, its really glass) by an original Leica R ground glass. In order to do so, I had to cut of the "holding nipple". That was no problem since the screen consists of plastic. There are no shim rings to worry about. Just make sure that the grounded surface faces down and the fresnell lens surface faces up (be careful not to scratch the surfaces). If you now look through the pentaprism finder or the vertical loupe, you will recongnize that the image has already become much brighter in the center, but that there is a significant falloff in brightness towards the edges. This is caused by the fresnell lens. The original ground glass doesn't have an integrated fresnell lens. Here, an even illumination is achieved by a biconvex lens in the pentaprism or vertical loupe finders. The introduction of the fresnell lens in addition to the light collecting lens results in a overcompensation. Thus, it is necessary to remove the biconvex lens. This is really easy done, since the lens is easy accessible. Its the one that faces down (directly above the ground glass). You just have to remove the chrome bottom plate of the finder. Than you can now take the lens out and put the chrome plate back where it was. That is all! You will be amazed how bright your Visoflex will be - its a whole new experience! :-) The good thing is that you can restore the visoflex to its original state any time (in case you want to sell it). Have fun :-) Regards from Germany, Alex - -- GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. http://www.gmx.net - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html