[Leica] A brief discussion on finder problems

[John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>]

There are different finder problems that people have complained about 
and I hope the MP has solved. I will not know for sure until I try all 
the finder versions of the MP.

1) The superimposed image goes white or just disappears if your eye is 
not centered. It usually goes white but sometimes, depending on ambient 
light conditions, it just disappears. Some people complain about this 
bitterly and others never experience it. I think it depends on the 
shape of your face as to how easy or natural it is to have the eye 
centered in the finder. I find this annoying but fairly easy to deal 
with. You just center the eye and it goes away. It was a h*** of shock 
when I got my first M6TTL as neither my M2 or late production M4-2 had 
this problem. However I got used to it and do not notice it all anymore 
as I now just unconsciously automatically center the eye in the finder.

2) Direct light from a certain angle causes the superimposed image to 
white-out. Centering your eye does not fix this problem, you have to 
change the position of the camera, usually not by too much, to get the 
superimposed image clear again. All my M cameras have had this in equal 
amounts (M2, two M4-2s and two M6TTLs). A slight shift sideways with 
the body and recomposing the image usually does the trick.

3) The superimposed image shifts as your eye moves around the finder. 
This is most noticeable with the 0.58x finders ( I have never tried an 
0.85x finder so I cannot comment on it). This is very serious in that 
you can no longer accurately focus large aperture lenses wide open. The 
0.72x finder does it as well but only very slightly. It is so bad on a 
0.58x body that the Noctilux and 90/2AA are completely unusable wide 
open. In a bizarre joke the finder whiteout noted in "1" above actually 
helps to solve this on the 0.72x finder as it forces you to keep your 
eye properly centered. Unfortunately the 0.58x finder has significant 
shifting even before the it starts whiting out.

I am hopeful that the modifications to the finder that the MP has will 
solve most of the above problems. Most important to me is the shifting 
superimposed patch in the 0.58x finder. If they could at least get it 
to be as good as the 0.72x finder I would be happy. Completely gone in 
all three finders would be marvelous.

There are a number of home-brewed solutions to finder flare problems. 
Whether or not they are successful depends on which type of flare is 
plaguing you. I have not found any of them successful but then I have a 
rather large nose which probably makes it harder to naturally center my 
eye.

John Collier

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