Re: [Leica] Rangefinder + Super-wide lens

[thomas boehm <toboehm@yahoo.com>]

hello chris,

i can share my experiences with the 21 elmarit on the M6 - especially
with  a "goggled" elmarit. basic statement: i'm not absolutely happy
with this combo, but i use it nevertheless, because i want to use the
benefits of the M6 also in the wide-angle-range. generally i would
confirm your statement, that a slr-camera is the better choice for
super-wide-angles.

the "goggled" elmarit has mounted the goggles of an old 35 summicron -
so you can use the viewfinder of the M6 both for viewing and focusing
(this conversion made in canada is described on hans pahlens site).
when i bought this expensive kit, i thougt, this is a benefit -
because you dont need an additional viewfinder (one more small part to
loose in a hurry, one more window to look trough) and you dont block
the flashsocket/hotshoe. the goggles give also paralax-correction in
the viewfinder. these are the good points.

bad points allong with the goggled 21: mainly the focusing is far from
beeing accurate especially in the close areas under 3 meters - you
have to guess the distance like in the times before 1932... the 35 mm
goggles simply don't match opticaly the 21 mm lens. for me the biggest
disadvantage of this in some other aspects clever construction. one
more: nearly one third of the viewfinder shows the lens and the
lenshood. and one small more: the viewfinder shows only a frame
corresponding to a 24 mm. the solution for those problems would be the
good old external wa-viewfinder on the  hotshoe - followed by the
problems  pointed before.

so i learned: super-wide-angles on rf-cameras come allong with lots of
compromises - you may like them or not. there is only the slr (or the
view-camera), if you want precise control of the image composition
with the super-wide-angle.

regards thomas
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