Hi,

I have an early (double stroke) M3, and recently bought a Summaron 35mm lens with the "eyes".

But, it seems that my viewfinder changes its rectangle size automatically when I put the lens on... so, do I really need the eyes, or can I take them off? I also switch back and forth to a 50mm lens, so not sure if that make a difference in keeping the eyes on or not... Thanks Phillip

-- Phillip Silitschanu (speedin_saab@hotmail.com), December 08, 2001

Answers

The eyes are essential. If you take them off, you'll be looking through a frame that's the view of the 50mm lens (the eyes compress a 35mm view to fit into the 50mm frame--notice how when you put on the 35 everything gets a bit smaller, and what you're seeing is just more stuff packed into the same round-cornered "50mm" frame?) Also, if you take off the eyes, the rangefinder won't focus properly. The scale on the lens will still set the lens properly if you do it manually to a distance you estimate, but the focus you get by using the RF will be out of synch and wrong.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), December 08, 2001.

The eyes have nothing to do with focusing. With or without the eyes the focusing will be the same. The lens triggers the 50mm framelines and the eyes merely corrects the coverage when. Alternatively you can just use an external 35mm finder for framing if you prefer to ditch the eyes.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), December 09, 2001.

Hi, What about on an M6? I can't afford the Summicron I want now but love shooting with a 35mm lens. I prefer not to have to use the eyes. Is there a model that will pop right on and work with out hassle, and is there a certain bargain vintage?

Thanks, Warren Allen

-- Warren Allen (whatrix@home.com), December 09, 2001.

Warren, I have an f/2.8 Summaron (M2 version), which I use on an M6. It's hassle-free and works fine.

-- Richard Saylor (rlsaylor@ix.netcom.com), December 09, 2001.

If you remove the eyes from a Summaron designed to work with them, the lens WILL NOT COUPLE CORRECTLY to the rangefinder and would have to be scale focused. I know this to be true because I tried it myself. Leica made the same lens without eyes as well, and it is a great performer and very compact.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 09, 2001.

This question has come up before, and the answer is that there IS a difference between the steepness of the focusing cam on the Bug-eye 35mm lens that will cause inaccurate focusing, (not a small amount, but a great disparity) when you remove the eyes and focus normally. This will be quickly seen by removing the two screws and focusing. I saw it in four Summarons, and in the thread below, Andrew Shank also reported the same error. I also in the thread below, did a quick search on the LUG and found in just a couple of minute, references from Leica repairmen that corroborate this fact. Those links are in that thread also.

Be aware, there were two different Summaron mounts. One for the M2 (and higher) and the Bug-eye for the M3. The Bug-eye will also work on any post M3 camera, bringing up the 50mm frame and adjusting that out to 35mm optically... But removing the eyes will cause the rangefinder to be inaccurate. The eyes work in conjunction with a different slope on the focusing cam on the lens to assure the correct focus is achieved.

Again, if you are not convinced... it would only take two minutes to see for yourself... just remove those two screws, focus and read the distance. It won't even be close.

Take a look at the thread on this subject from a couple of months ago:

bug-eye removal thread

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 09, 2001.

To make it faster if you are interested, I re-linked the LUG threads from the old post and made them click-able. I wasn't too computer savvy when I made that older post. You can see the LUG statements about eye removal and focusing accuracy at the following links:

link

link

link

Also... Andrew, sorry I misspelled your name above.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 09, 2001.