Hi dear all. Happy new Year! I’ve recently bought a Leica M6 with a couple of lens, i.e. 50 mm and 90 Summicrons. All is working fine, but the B&W rubber lens hood extended for the 50 mm obscures part of the 50 mm frame of the M6' viewfinder. If a portion of the composition of the image looks obscured, it will show in the picture? Sorry for the “newby” question (and for my awkward English…) – Thanks a lot in advance, Marco.

-- Marco Maria Colombo (mcolombo@iol.it), January 13, 2002

Answers

MOST unlikely. ;)

-- Travis koh (polar@cyberdude.com), January 13, 2002.

with a rangefinder camera what-you-see-is-what-you-get is not always the case. this can be a plus, for example when you use ND, IR or B&W filters, or if you have things protruding into the viewfinder frame, but can be a problem with polarizers, forgotten lens caps, flare, protruding fingers and so on.

in short, you have to get used to the missing part of you frame in composition, but it will not show up in the picture. or you could try to cut a window into you lenshood or buy the dedicated one.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Look for a 12585 (metal) or a 12538 (plastic) lens hood. This blocks very little of the viewfinder image. Here is a picture of one from an eBay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=131891 7800#DESC

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 13, 2002.

Marco, I'm not trying to be a wise-ass, but you should try and find a good photography book that explains the differences between different types of cameras (specifically, the fundamental differences between SLRs and rangefinders). Or perhaps someone knows of a good informative website. Knowing exactly how the viewfinder operates in relation to the lens on a RF will be crucial with a lot of situations (plus, the more you know about your camera, the more you can concentrate on the pictures).

-- Richard Le (rvle@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Marco

If I read your question correctly, the section that is blocked by the lenshood when you look through the viewfinder will certainly NOT be blocked in the image captured on film. It will appear normally in your image, with no obstruction. The light entering the lens itself is never blocked, only a part of the light entering into the camera viewfinder, which is located above and to the left of the lens. Ranefinder camera viewing is not the same as SLR viewing, in which light entering the lens is utilized to form the viewing image on a ground glass screen.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), January 13, 2002.

something tell me the viewfinder doesnt form the image on the film, the lens does......but thats just a hunch

-- grant (g4lamos@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Wow - This is Leica price land. I have a 12585H hood (not for sale). I kept when I sold a 50mm Summicron a few years back. Glad I didn't sell it, given that the one mentioned on Ebay sold for $67!

-- Tom (therbert@miami.edu), January 13, 2002.