[Leica] M8 viewfinder showing a narrower field than M7/MP, was: Portrait Lens

[lucien_vd at mac.com (lucien_vd@mac.com)]

Steve Barbour wrote :

> also the viewfinder on the M8 is 0.68... so the longer lens takes a  
> tiny fraction of the viewfinder...


Steve,

This is not correct, if you mean by this that the the M8 0,68 is  
showing a wider field than the M7 0,72.

Here is what I wrote previously about it:
--
Although the viewfinder of the M8 has a 0,68 magnification while in  
the normal M7/MP it is a 0,72, the finder of the M8 shows a narrower  
field. You have to compare the viewfinders to see it.

That's why the widest frames in the M8's viewfinder are showing the  
field of a 32mm (24mm X 1,33) while in the viewfinder of the M7, it's  
the field of the 28mm.

This may seems illogical, because on the other Leica M, the lower the  
magnification, the wider the field's coverage.

The reason is that the top cover of the M8 being deeper, the  
viewfinder is also +/- 3mm deeper, while both the M8 and M7's front  
windows have the same width. The field is therefore narrower on the M8.

If the viewfinder of the M8 had been a 0,72, the field covered would  
have been even narrower, maybe equivalent to the 37mm (28mm X 1,33).
--

Because of that, the size of the 75mm's frames (equivalent 100mm) in  
the M8 viewfinder is very close to the size of the 90mm frames in the  
M7.

Lucien