The viewfinder on my M2 is about a stop or two darker than the M6 I have and other people's M3's I have seen. I mentioned this to the repairman during the last CLA and he showed me another M2 he just cleaned and the finder looked about the same. Is this a normal? I understand the M2 was intended to be the budget version of the M3.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), March 25, 2002

Answers

Ray,

the finder of my M2 is perfectly clear and nowhere dim. I also looked at some M3s at the last camera flea market here, and found they looked the same (at least my opinion, but I didn't make a direct comparison). They introduced a new finder with the M2 (simpler than the M3 one), and the mechanism is still used up to the M7, but that did not influence the bright-/darkness of the finder as far as I know.

-- Kai Blanke (kblanke@iname.com), March 25, 2002.

The viewfinder of M2 (AND M3) is indeed darker than that of the M6! Just that it is less flare prone.

-- Yossi (yosslee@yahoo.com), March 25, 2002.

I have owned 2 M4-2's and 3 M4-P's apart from my current crystal clear M4-P the M2 has always had the brightest finder.

If you look carefully through the front as you move the camera about it should be clear if there is any haze evident - the M4-P's and M6's seem rather prone to this.

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), March 25, 2002.

Leica made it this way on purpose. They wanted to increase the contrast of the rangefinder patch with the background. At first it bothered me but now I see the advantages and prefer it the old way.

-- Russell Brooks (russell@ebrooks.org), March 25, 2002.

My completely cleaned M3 finder is just as bright as the one in the M6--it is a myth that the M6 finder is brighter says Leica expert repairman Bill Maxwell.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 25, 2002.

Andrew,

I think the brightness is related to magnification: 0.58 brighter than 0.72, and 0.72 brighter than 0.85, and 0.85 brighter than 0.91 (M3); add a 1.25X magnifier and the viewfinder gets darker still. This assumes the exit pupil are equal. From the front the pupil shape on my various M2/3/4/6 look slightly different. The M3 is slightly darker than the other 0.72's

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), March 25, 2002.

It's my belief that it's the illumination of the frames that's brighter on the new bodies, not the overall viewfinder. I suspect that cleaning the viewfinder on older cameras will make a big difference.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), March 25, 2002.

i have noticed that M2 and M3 VFs are a little darker than those of more recent Ms (M4-P and M6), but not that much so. The M2 VF may be a littgle darker but still should be very easily useable. If it's not, then it could be dimming due to age. BTW, the M2 was meant to be a different model from the M3, not just a cheaper way of getting an M Leica. I have heard this statement before, and it is false. In any event, it has nothing to do with finder brightness.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 25, 2002.

Eliot

Why does the M2 not have a self resetting counter? I always thought this was some kind of economy feature. Also originally did it not lack the self timer too?

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.

Robin. If Leica had meant the M2 just be an "entry level" Leica, they would have given it the same features as the M3 except for the lack of internal frame counter and self-timer, as you mention. But instead, the finder is different and the M2 allows you to use a 35 mm lens w/o a special finder or RF-VF attachment. Thus, the M2 was valued because it had the 35 mm built-in frame lacking in the M3.

The M2 also had features missing from the M3 (eg., the ability to take a rapid winder [M-Leicavit]) which the M3 did not have, unless specially modified. And you may remember that the earliest M3s did not have the frame preview selector lever, which all M2s had. Leica never considered the M2 inferior to the M3, just different.

As proof of this, when they introduced the M4, it had features of both the M2 and M3.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 25, 2002.

My M3 and recently CLA'd by Focal Point M2 have equally bright finders. My M6 finder is brighter. But to the best of my recollection, the M2 finder was brighter, when I bought it new about 1961, than it is now.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 25, 2002.