Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The 15mm Heliar finder is excellent, I would say better than the lens ;-) When I first got it, I made a couple of test shots to see how the finder coverage corresponded to the actual picture and my conclusion was that if you want something better you would have to get not only a SLR, but one showing 100%. The Heliar finder does not show frame lines as my Leitz 21 mm finder does, but this is no real disadvantage for the type of pictures I make. In fac, t I prefer to work with the Heliar finder. Bad luck I prefer the picture quality of the non-asph 21 mm Elmarit lens to that of the 15 mm Heliar lens. Best use for the 15 mm Heliar IMHO is the normal pictures where you would otherwise use a 35mm, a 28mm or a wider lens. Do not try to exaggerate perspectives. Just take normal pictures. They get exaggerated automatically. Make sure there is nobody at the edges of the picture that will see the picture. They get a bit distorted. Last week I was at a Portugese café, about 12 feet wide but very long and with high ceiling. I took a picture standing with the back at one of the long walls, shooting a picture of the female owner standing behind the bar in front of her sundry coffee making and other hardware (HP5 at 800, natural light, Rodinal 1+25). Yesterday I brought her the pictures. She was really baffled. Black and white! And that perspective. .....I think this was the first time in her life she realized that the border between wall and ceiling had very nice stucco. That lens sees more than you see. Chris >If any of you have the 15mm Heliar and the finder, how accurate is the >finder compared to what really gets on the film. Is it fairly close, or is >it looser than what the finder lets you know. > >gck - -- Christer Almqvist D-20255 Hamburg, Germany and/or F-50590 Regnéville-sur-Mer, France