Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/21

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Subject: [Leica] Diopter adjustment in SLRs
From: "Doug Richardson" <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 14:08:51 -0000

Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net> wrote:

>I had the R8s diopter setting wrong. One day
in the middle of a basketball game, I recalibrated the diopter in the
viewfinder and shot the rest of the game. I was amazed at how much
better
my focusing just got.

>So those who say they have a hard time focusing the R8, you might
want to
check to see if the viewfinder is adjusted right for your eyes. It
made all
the difference for me.

Can one of our resident wizards explain why having the diopter setting
wrong will affect focussing accuracy of an SLR? As long as you can see
the finder image well enough to note when the microprisms clear or the
split-image is no longer split, is that not enough? Or does having the
wrong diopter setting somehow make the microprisms and split-image
give an inaccurate result?

I've always have very short sight and heavy astigmatism, and find SLRs
hard to use in anything other than bright lighting conditions. Photos
taken indoors or in winter daylight never seem particularly sharp.

Regards,

Doug Richardson