Re: [Leica] Focusing difficulties

["Julian Koplen" <jkoplen@mindspring.com>]

Maybe it's just me or even the passage of years, but I was never able to do
really fine focusing with the split-screen feature in a Leica R; the
microprism collar seems more informative.  Ted and others have said that the
plain groundglass screen is best of all, but I have not put that to the
test.  The split-and-coincident RF patch always seemed pretty reliable, at
least up to a 90 2.8.  I must admit that my RF days were 15 years ago.

To make matters worse, all these impressions are just that--impressions.  I
have done no formal comparisons, so what I seem to be describing is, for me,
a comfort level.  Surely, though, someone has actually measured the
comparative accuracies of these methods with various focal lengths and light
levels.

Regards........Julian
- ----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew M. Moore <moore@rscs.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 1999 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Focusing difficulties


I often hear that the rangefinder is better than an SLR for focusing in
dim light.  Most SLR's have a split-screen rangefinder in the center
of the viewfinder.  How is this any better or worse than an M6?

Granted, the RF lets in almost all the light, while a typical fast lens
on an SLR might be f/1.4, but f/1.4 is pretty bright viewing in an SLR.
So what's the big deal?  Is focusing in a rangefinder patch really any
different from the split-screen method in your typical SLR?

Oh boy.  Let the flame wars begin!  :)