I got sick of the dread flare on my M6TTL, so.... I've been experimenting with things!

This seems to work pretty well _for me_ (your milage may vary).

I have some of that low tack white framers tape. Its the cloth backed stuff, consistancy of ducktape, but with no silvery stuff - it's pure white, and almost, but not quite opaque. I cut two strips, one about 1/4 inch wide, and one about 5/16 inch wide (experiment with the width).

The thinner strip goes horizontally across the light gathering frame, the thicker one goes vertically. The effect is to cut out about 1/3 of the frame vertically and horizontally, with a totally dark center. Bingo! Frame lines are just a wee bit dimmer, but the patch seems to be quite nearly totally flare free. I can now leave my eye a bit off center and focus easily in strong sidelight or strong overhead light (especially against dark subjects).

Feedback appreciated! (Does the happy dance here!)

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), May 31, 2002

Answers

I just feel so all alone and left out. I've had six different M6's over the years and I've never been able to make any of them flare no matter what I do. :o(

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 31, 2002.

That is hard to understand, Jay. I've used two M6 classics (.72 and .85), an M6TTL .58 and now an M7 - and they all flare once in a while. You've either been extraordinarily fortunate, or you shoot in different environments than I do! From a message I read (not sure if it was here or on the LUG) from someone at Solms, the flare is inherent to the geometry of the RF system - specifically to a little parabolic mirror within it. I remember the gentleman saying that light sources 110 degrees off axis were the most problematic.

And about that rumour of a flare update for the M7 that's been going around lately - that got started by a post on the LUG that purported to be from Erwin. I say "purported" because there was other content in the message that hinted it might have been a forgery. I can't see any reason Leica would have released the M7 without such an update, given the problems that retrofits would cause them. I think the "update" is nothing but a rumour being driven by wishful thinking. I mean, think about it - they release the .72 in April, the .58 and .85 in July, then update them all in September? Not even Leica is that clueless.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul@chefurka.com), May 31, 2002.

I had an M6TTL a few years ago and never had any flare. I now use a 1949 Summicron LTM lens on a IIIC, and no flare. What's the problem with your lens...really...I think it's your lens and not a design problem. Have it checked.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), May 31, 2002.

Todd, the flare is in the viewfinder.

Personally, I don't think people know what the term means. Viewfinder flare, is not like flare in a photograph from the sun striking the front of the lens. What viewfinder flare is, is the whiting out of the rangefinder patch, when the eye is offcenter, that happens whenever there is strong sidelite and a medium to dark subject. This makes focusing very hard or impossible unless the eye is perfectly centered in the eyepiece/viewfinder. I've never seen an M6TTL that didn't flare, btw. Since it is eye position related, it could be some peoples eyes, and the positioning of them make a bit of difference (but I'm sure not much).

Its a shame that the Voigtlander Bessa has BRIGHTER frames, and nearly no flare of the RF patch at all.

Simple blocking of the light gathering system seems to help in my case at least.

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), May 31, 2002.

What is also said to work is to move UP to M3 :-))

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), May 31, 2002.

Charles is absolutely right in my opinion.

If you havn't experienced flare be thankful but don't write the phenomenon off. Plenty of us know it exists. It does with my M6 and M6TTL. Yes you can get rid of it by centering your eye carefully or sometimes a slight change in angle works. Lutz has a 'shade' filter which works very well but dims things a touch too much for me. But from a company with such optical expertise and for the prices we pay we shouldn't have to put up with this. Wake up Leica and get it right or CV will end up with even more of your market which they have deservedly plundered already!

There I feel better now.

-- Tim Gee (twg@optushome.com.au), May 31, 2002.

Charles - I expect the "fix" Leica is supposed to introduce at PhotoKina will do roughly what your tape does, but internally. Something that keeps the frameline light away from the center where the RF light is traveling. Baffles or some such.

Good idea.

My "fix" was to trade the M6 for an M4. 8^)

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), June 01, 2002.

Then wouldn't it be better to put those strips of tape on the *inside* of the light-gathering window? It would just involve taking of the top plate and reinstalling it...a 10-minute do-it-yourself job for someone with the tools and experience.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 01, 2002.

If it flares in landscape mode, turn the camera to portrait and then turn back vice versa. The flare will go away after this ONE second manuvere.

works every single time for me.

-- Lux (leica@sumicron.com), June 01, 2002.

Todd don't wish to be tedious, but there is not a '49 Summicron to create flare. The flare must result from the absence of a lens on the front of the camera until 1953

-- James Elwing (elgur@acay.com.au), June 01, 2002.

LOL

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), June 01, 2002.