Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/01/27

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Tight framing with M 21/24 lenses?
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 18:56:35 -0500

Here! Here! Or Hear! Hear!....
The bottom line is that rangefinder cameras, and particularly
rangefinder cameras with wide lenses mounted, are not for the anally
compulsive- Just take the damn thing and shoot with it and "get used to
it." The only thing cheaper than film is pixels...but that's another
subject entirely. ;-)

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Buzz
Hausner
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 6:36 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: RE: [Leica] Tight framing with M 21/24 lenses?


The short answer if you want "(almost perfect) parallax correction" is
to get an SLR; you will never come close to perfect parallax correction
and reliable "in the box" tight framing with a 21mm lens on a
rangefinder.  There is no substitute for experience and, unfortunately,
"get used to it" is very good advice, indeed.

Lenses wider than 24mm are peculiar beasts and they have many
characteristics which take much experience to harness...the rapidly
receding background, the diverging lines when even slightly tilted, the
change of perspective from just a minor height adjustment, the
impossibility of using a through-the-lens meter.  Of course all of these
issues are compounded when one uses a 21mm lens to take a vertical
photograph.  Parallax may be the least of your problems if you are new
to wide angle lenses.

All of that said, I am very satisfied with the Leica 21mm finder,
despite complaints about it's being made of plastic and its
breathtaking...even for Leica...price.  Perfect framing?  No.  However,
I don't always pay such close attention to what's happening at the
periphery of a wide angle picture, anyway.

I strongly advise against seeking a quick or rule-of-thumb fix. Remember
that film...if you still use film...remains your cheapest photographic
accessory, use it lavishly and learn from your own experience.

	Buzz Hausner

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Fast
Primes
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 3:25 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] Tight framing with M 21/24 lenses?

Is there an article or book (possibly very old) which delves into 
visualizing or offering rules of thumb for tight framing with (almost 
perfect) parallax correction (as in achieving slr type results) when
using 
Leica M very wide angle 21mm and 24mm rangefinder lenses with external 
viewfinders or similar cameras/lenses?

I've often heard that one "get's used to it"! But surely, someone must
have 
gotten used to it and was able to figure out what it was exactly they
were 
doing to correct for parallax and distance enlargement? I'm talking
color 
slide shooting in particular here--not B&W where you can crop with the 
enlarger.

Thanks.

Fast_Primes

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