It seems like leica could have used the m7 to introduce a new viewfinder which incorporated different magnifications into a single camera. Note that this could have been done and still retained the excellent feature of seeing beyond the frame of the picture in the finder.

Instead I will have to again decide which mag. is "right" for me, or buy/carry more than one body.

See how the contax g1/g2 even can zoom the viewfinder!

-- Tony Vezza (tv@cisco.com), March 01, 2002

Answers

>See how the contax g1/g2 even can zoom the viewfinder!

True, but the Contax is really a cross between rangefinder and high-level compact.

-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), March 01, 2002.

I'm not implying that the contax g1/g2 cameras are a valid comparison to the leica M. I don't think they are in the same class (I would NOT give up my m6 and its lenses for a g2).

But the g1/g2 viewfinder is a good example of what's technically possible.

-- Tony Vezza (tv@cisco.com), March 01, 2002.

If the Contax G series viewfinder is a good example of what is technically possible, I would hate to see a bad example.

Some years ago when the G-1 was introduced, I looked forward eagerly to going from my home in the sticks to a big city camera store where I could examine the new phenomenon. I asked the clerk if I could handle the G-1 demo; he placed it in my hot little hands. I took one look through the viewfinder and said to myself, "this thing is one feature worse than an SLR!" I put it down very quickly and have never had the slightest interest in the Contax G since that time.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), March 01, 2002.

I reached Leica M ownership via the Contax G and have never pined for the Contax. It would be good if they could devise a zooming viewfinder, provided it didn't degrade the overall quality of it. In the meantime, it's a good excuse to have 2 bodies...

-- Paul Hart (paulhart@dornoch.u-net.com), March 01, 2002.

I think someone once posted that the G viewfinder is basically .58.....but I couldn't say for sure. It is dim compared to the Leica....but also IS AF. I agree that the manual focus option is very hard to use quickly, but you can set a manual Fstop and distance though for best results you have to hold down the shutter button (thus draining the battery). Definitely not as convenient as pre-setting the Leica.

-- Todd Phillips (toddvphillips@webtv.net), March 01, 2002.

The contax is not a rangefinder. It has a viewfinder. I am not sure of the need for further rangefinder modifications. It seems like people keep wanting gimmicks and gizmos in every thing they buy. I think that Leica, being about quality and precision, is refreshing and unique. In fact I am a little worried about the changes to the M7. I think that AE is kind of a gizmo already. The DX is kinda funny and really seems gizmo-like. People all them "features" but really they are toys/gizmos. Well I will take the classic, quality leica over a G1/G2 anyday. No offense but I think the current rangerfinder is a class act.

-- Rob Schopke (schopke@attbi.com), March 01, 2002.

Former Contax G owner speaking:

1. The Contax finder is VARIABLE magnification. 1.0x with the 90, .5x with the 45mm, .33x with the 28, etc. So it is only "equivalent" to a .58 with a (45x.58x2, hmmm) 52.2mm lens mounted.

2. The issue of a 'zoom' Leica finder has come up several times over the 9 months I've been reading this site. Y'all need to give a little thought to basic engineering when asking Leica for the Moon.

There are two images in a Leica-M finder - the main framing/viewing image and the rangefinder image.

These have to be exactly the same size and in alignment or you can't focus.

This means that there would have to be TWO zooming systems - the main viewing one, and another one out along the extremely narrow (and already crowded) RF optical path to the small window. AND they would have to stay perfectly in sync at all times, both linked to the lens mount so things would change when you changed lenses.

In addition, zoom systems work by moving glass elements around in relationship to each other - so there has to be a lot of empty space with the system for elements to move within. Look through the front of any zoom lens - or your Tri-Elmar.

The Leica viewfinder is essentially a solid block of glass from the eyepiece right through to the front window - there is NO space to move any zoom elements around inside it.

3) It MIGHT be possible to separate the viewing and rangefinding systems - think of a V'lander Bessa-T with Leica's zooming 21/24/28 finder mounted, or maybe something like the old Zeiss and Leica zoom accesory finders for ALL focal lengths. Or for that matter the screw- mount Leicas - although their viewfinders didn't zoom, they COULD have.

In effect this is what Contax did - only they substituted an electro- optical automatic rangefinder, and built the zoom finder into the body instead of the accessory shoe.

But you CAN'T zoom the Leica-M combined RF/VF in anything like it's current size.

A side note to those who complain about the size of the viewfinder image in the Contax - it is exactly the same size and viewing area as a screw-mount Leica's (except the IIIg). Which Henri Cartier-Bresson (among other Leica gods) managed to limp along with for 22 years. No?

Both Leica and Contax brochures have cutaway pictures of their viewfinder systems - take a look at the pictures to see what I mean.

Finally - Leica HAS zoomed the finder (sort of) over the years - that's what those 'goggles' are for on the 35s and 135. Tom Abrahamson even zoomed the finder to 21mm by putting 35mm goggles on his 21 (which then uses the 28mm frame lines around a smaller image). But that (and the 1.25x magnifier) are as close as you can get.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), March 02, 2002.

Well when reading all the post about the M7 (less than 2 months after buying a M6) I was thinking that one big improvment (IMHO) was if the M7 has a wievfinder like the Xpan with 2 diferent magnifications (this is probably only possible with a manual tab) this would have been a real improvment. Think about it a 0.58 + 0.85 in the same camera without fiddling with an extra magnigier. Well in another 10-20 years there might be an M8 with this feature

-- Kaj Froling (saluki@mail.tele.dk), March 02, 2002.