Saw the M7 at FOCUS yesterday so have decided to order an M6! As I wear specs I need to get the .72 mag but am tempted to go for the .58 to make sure I see more of the framelines, esp. if I go for a 35mm lens.If I do this does the small size of the 90 mm frame make a 90mm impractical? And of course I'll lose the 135mm frame. I just wondered how other spec wearers get on.

By the way, the R system I was thinking of selling is definatly having to go to pay for the M, all now at bargain prices!

Please E-mail for details.

-- steve (s.s2@uk.dreamcast.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

I prefer the 0.58 finder. I use the 90 and it is not a big problem, but I would like to add a 1.25x eyepiece to make the 90 framelines a little bigger. That would be for framing, not focusing, as focusing seems fine to me.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), February 27, 2002.

I wear glasses and like the 0.72. It works just fine. I thought the 0.58 made only a very slight difference and took away a 135mm frame. The 28mm frame was still not really useable for me with a .58. One thing that is annoying about the Ms are the rubber surrounds to the eyepieces. They smear my glasses lenses very frequently. Good old non scratching plastic is much better as on my R6.2.

I hope you know what you are doing about selling the R. My advice is to not sell until you have had the M for a year. I am pleased I still have mine. I sold my M3 kit in a fit of irritation at it and returned to the R in the mid 80s and only recently have got back into M photography.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.

I have the 0.58 and the 0.85 I can use the 90mm with both althought I prefer it with the 0.85 I also prefer the Noctilux with the 0.85 as well

If I had to choose only one, the 0.72 would be my choice

-- Don (maldos@cox.net), February 27, 2002.

I wear glasses and have the .72 model M6TTL with a 35 Summilux. Seems to work just fine for me, but if I had a 28mm lens (or envisioned getting one in the future) I would have to use the .58 body. If you're only going to have one body, the .72 is the way to go.

-- Luke Dunlap (luked@mail.utexas.edu), February 27, 2002.

I have really bad eyes but really good M6TTL 0.72. Wear glasses all day. Absolutely no problems. Old story: if lost/stolen, would repeat same purchase tomorrow. With 90/135 mm, maybe ditto plus 1.25x. As second body (for 90/135 mm) maybe a 0.85 ± 1.25x. It's that simple (for me).

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), February 27, 2002.

My experience of 90saa with 0.58 - too many out of focus pictures (almost none with my 0.85). I wear glasses and with the 0.58 a 28 would be perfect, IMO. If you want to use a 35 as your standard, stick with the .72 - you can get a magnifier for a 90.

-- Steve Jones (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), February 27, 2002.

All my M's are 0.72 and I am a "spectacle" wearer. I have the Hexar RF which is close to the 0.58 and I like the 0.72 much better. One of my 0.72's wears the 1.25x permanently.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), February 27, 2002.

I wear specs and use a .58 with a 50 and 35, for a 90 I use the 1.25X. I am very happy with this. If I had to buy an extra body, maybe an M7, I would get a .85 I suppose for extra focusing accuracy.

-- John Abela (jamriman@yahoo.com), February 27, 2002.

.58x will let you see the 28mm framelines even with glasses. The question is whether you want to compromise framelines for magnification or the other way around. I wear glasses and prefer to use the high mag .85x for 35mm for environmental portraits even though I can't see the framelines. But my vision is so poor that I need the magnification to see what I am shooting, especially if I want to see expressions on people's faces. I would say screw the framelines for higher magnification since you are not looking through the lens and it is all guess-timate anyway. I find it better *for me* to shoot with framelines in my head and crop in the scanner or darkroom if needed, like the old days when SLRs have 93% finders.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), February 28, 2002.

I wear specs and my first M purchases were a .72 M6TTL with TriElmar, 50/1.4 Summilux and 90/2.8 Elmarit lenses. I managed OK for a while but finally decided to buy a .58 body for the TriElmar. I found that to be the perfect match and the TriElmar stays on the .58 body all the time.

I use the .72 body for the 50 'lux and the 90, because it makes composition and focusing easier. I've ordered a 1.25x magnifier for use with the .72 to make composition and focusing better still and I expect I'll keep it on that body permanently. With the benefit of hindsight, I really should have bought a .85 body instead of the .72

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), February 28, 2002.

I wear glasses. I shoot 21/28/35/90 lenses on my Ms. Both the ones I own are .72, but I've tried both the .72 amd .58 M6TTL finders.

I prefer the .72s. It takes REALLY good peripheral vision to take in the 28 frames, but somehow I do it. And sometimes get BETTER pictures through stretching my eyes a little. The .58 is too much like an SLR finder - reducing the image to fit in a standard-sized rectangle.

In addition, with the metered bodies I've looked through - the .58 finder really emphasizes the missing parts of the 35/28 frames - here's a frame nearly in the middle of the viewfinder and it still has a piece knocked out for metering arrows! Somehow on the .72 M6/M6TTL the gaps aren't as annoying - maybe just because they're closer to the edge.

Like Jay I also have a .6 Hexar RF - it's main attraction is that it's 'tunnel' is even wider than the .58 Leica, and so really CAN be used for the 21 on occasion. But then again, it's 21 'view' takes even more peripheral vision than the 28 frame in the .72. It would appear something just attracts me about being forced to see wider than normal.

I could be tempted by the .85x sometime - the .72 isn't TOTALLY reliable with fast telephotos. But IMHO the .72 is the best all-around especially if you only have one finder.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 28, 2002.

..should have added that my .72s are both pre-M6 bodies, so they have complete unbroken 28 or 35 framelines.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 28, 2002.

Thanks for all your responses,Im now thinking .58 plus 1.25 mag(?)

-- steve (s.s2@uk.dreamcast.com), February 28, 2002.

I use the .58 all the time. I love the viewfinder because I can be on top of people and ,through the finder, I'm well enough away. I have had no difficulty with the 90 or the Noctilux though I now use the magnifier for those lenses and I seem to be a bit quicker. If I buy the M-7,and I eventually will, I'm get the same viewfinder. Iguess I'm old fashioned. I still use the M-3 with my Visoflex I and III.

-- Ned Learned (ned@kajabbi.com), March 06, 2002.