I'm about to buy my first Leica M and I'm wondering whether or not their standard .72 magnification viewfinder would be adequate for a 28mm lens. Or should I bite the bullet and get two bodies, one .72 and the other a .58 magnification.

My lens use with Nikons has always been: 28mm 20% 35mm 40% 50mm 20% 90mm 20%

I'd sure appreciate any insight from people with some Leica rangefinder experience. Thanks.

Jerry

-- Jerry Merz (jerry_merz@yahoo.com), April 18, 2002

Answers

I'd suggest getting the .72 mag and see how you like how the four lenses listed work off that body. If you then feel it necessary for the .58 you can do that. Alternatively you can get the .58 and the 1.25 viewer magnifier and have the best of both worlds. Thats if you can locate one.

-- john (JBee193@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

Hi Jerry - the 0.72 body works great with a 28 lens but if you want a little more space 'around' the image, the 0.58 works better.

If you can afford two two bodies, why not try a 0.58 and a 0.85 - I feel this would give you more overall ability for wide, standard and short telephoto lenses.

The following link is from Leica's website and will give you further info about the magnifications http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/msystem/m6ttl/sucher/beispiel/ind ex.html

Regards - Chris

-- Chris Timotheou (nowayout@btinternet.com), April 18, 2002.

Sorry, Jerry

The link I wanted to give is this one, the Viewfinder Versions page on the Leica website.

www.leica-camera.com/produkte/msystem/m6ttl/sucher/beispiel/index.html

-- Chris Timotheou (nowayout@btinternet.com), April 18, 2002.

Depends on if you wear glasses Jerry! I find that you can only just see the 28mm frame on a .72 with glasses If you are going to use 28mm most often, i'd get a .58

-- Karl Yik (karl.yik@dk.com), April 18, 2002.

Jerry: I have the .72 M and I don't wear glasses. For me, the viewfinder magnification for the 28mm works just fine. (I also use a 50 and 90).

-- Jim Reed (jimreedpc@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

I have both the .58 and the .72 and I don't wear glasses. I find the .58 is a *perfect* match to the 28, but prefer the .72 with the 35, 50 and 90. Another point to be aware of is the .58 body does not have any 135 lines. Many find this a blessing for use with their 35's as there are no other conflicting lines busying up the finder, but it is inconvenient if you want to use a 135 ;-)

Cheers,

-- J Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), April 18, 2002.

I suggest an 0.72 and an accessory 28mm brightline finder. True, the 28mm framelines outline the coverage of the lens, but it leaves you to imagine the spatial perspective of the lens (foreground vs background, keystoning if tilted, etc.). I find the accessory finder much closer to representing what a 28mm looks like through an SLR. I use it with my Tri-Elmar even on the Hexar RF which I can see the built-in 28mm frames easily.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

I certainly wouldn't "bite the bullet" and by two M's initially. I also wouldn't by all those lenses yet - you may want to start with one, or at the most two, and see where to go from there. M's aren't for everybody, and i think you could be wasting a lot of money by buying a complete system with two bodies right from the beginning. I would buy one, with a couple lenses and use it for a year and see if you like them, and then you will be able to answer the question of should i buy a second body by yourself.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), April 18, 2002.

Thanks for your good feedback, guys. It made a lot of sense and I just ordered a Leica M7 with .72 magnification and a 35mm lens. I'll work with just that for a year or so and decide where to go from there.

Again, thanks to you all.

Jerry

-- Jerry Merz (jerry_merz@yahoo.com), April 19, 2002.