[Leica] M3 vs. SLR focusing teles

[Dante Stella <dante@umich.edu>]

This is not designed to be a troll on this subject, but I think that I 
understand why Visoflex owners like their plain ground-glasses so much.  
I recently picked up a Nikon F3HP and MD-4 with an E screen (no fresnel, 
no focusing aids, just a grid) for use with fast teles.

I was really blown away at how easy it is to focus a long lens on a 
really finely-ground GG.  Subjectively, at least on that body, the 
picture with that screen is brighter and clearer than an M3, which is 
pretty close IMO to the best M body for teles.  It makes me curious 
about the Visos and how bright they are.  Given their cult, I would have 
to imagine pretty bright.  Whether focusing accuracy is the same is an 
open question - the M3's "right-or-wrong" focusing system is easier from 
a mechanistic standpoint.  I suspect that if you have to shoot in a 
clutch (and I am still exploring this), a long-base rangefinder is 
faster and/or more accurate.

Maybe the bigger problem with more modern SLRs is that manufacturers 
have junked up the viewing area with fresnel brighteners, microprisms, 
and other things that introduce finder distortion and prevent you from 
focusing on anything other than the center of the VF pictures.  An E 
screen is totally flat, and you can do anything you want with the 
focus - center, left, right, corner.  And hitting the DOF lever does not 
make the finder impossibly dark.  As for the vibration, I also noted 
that an F3 is a lot closer call than a lot of cameras I have used.  Not 
an M3  (or even Hexar RF for that matter) by any means, but even at 5 
fps, you hear it more than you feel it.

Of course, there's no question that M lenses are compact and still 
fantastic and that an M3 makes an F3 with MD-4 sound like an M60 machine 
gun.  Of course, that 6 pound weight with a 105/1.8 does a pretty good 
job of sucking up the minimal force from mirror flip!  But in the end, 
Leica definitely wins on pocketability, even with the MR-4.

In sum, I am not going to run and sell my M3, but this was an 
interesting and different perspective for me.

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