Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/06

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Subject: [Leica] Olympus E 410 in Alicante - viewfinder brightness
From: datamaster at northcoastphotos.com (Gary Todoroff)
Date: Fri Jul 6 16:52:24 2007
References: <165A6E54-67E8-4C64-BE9D-FD05F720BF0A@nathanfoto.com> <1EDBA5D1-A82E-449A-84E0-50DB4274C90C@btinternet.com> <614CD640-F963-4E33-BD37-44F8241FA918@nathanfoto.com> <468E0CC8.4040106@dlridings.se>

I put an old Leitz 90mm hotshoe finder on a IIIg recently and was 
surprised at the brightness and clarity. What I really liked was 
that, with both eyes open. the 90mm finder presented the sharp and 
bright scene at exactly the same magnification as my other eye. It 
was as if your whole range of vision had a 90mm frame on the world 
wherever you turned your head!

I agree with Nathan that the Olympus DSLR cameras are not the 
brightest bulbs on the chandelier when it comes to viewfinders. On my 
E-330, critical focus with the Leica APO 70-180/2.8 is not easy 
unless there is a fair amount of light. However the live view LCD 
with its 10x magnifier lets you focus more precisely than any other 
method, even, I believe, than with a bright finder like the SL. No 
good though for action. The 10x racked out at 180mm is doubled as a 
360mm lens, which at 10x is like holding a 3600mm lens! Tripod or 
table top is a must. But at 10x you can focus on a gnat's eyelash. 
With autofocus Olympus lenses, all of the above is moot. Autofocus 
has been spot on.

I describe the use of the Olympus E-330 live view LCD with 10x on a 
long telephoto at:
http://northcoastphotos.com/Lympa_2006_04_12.htm

Gary Todoroff

At 02:35 AM 7/6/2007, you wrote:

>Nathan Wajsman wrote:
>>  I would rank the viewfinders as follows:
>>1. Leica M3
>>2. Leicaflex SL
>>3. Leica M6 (the 0.85 flavour)
>>4. Canon 1D2 / Leica R8 (tie)
>>5. Olympus 410 / Canon 20D (tie)
>>6. Leica CL
>>7. Leica IIIf
>>But of course that is just my subjective opinion,
>
>Wow, Nathan. As much as I like the IIIf, it actually made it onto 
>your list? (I use one Leitz external 50 finder now. Perfect 1:1 and 
>works out well. It was confusing me when I had a 35 or 90 viewfinder 
>anyway ... when to move to the external one and when to the built in 
>one? Now there is always an external one there).
>
>:-)
>
>Daniel


In reply to: Message from nathan at nathanfoto.com (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Olympus E 410 in Alicante)
Message from Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie) ([Leica] Olympus E 410 in Alicante)
Message from nathan at nathanfoto.com (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Olympus E 410 in Alicante)
Message from dlr at dlridings.se (Daniel Ridings) ([Leica] Olympus E 410 in Alicante)