Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/12

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Subject: [Leica] Digital SLR viewfinders suck.
From: imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:47:06 -0600
References: <11008199.1268279184466.JavaMail.root@wamui-cynical.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <420887777.9734851268414419283.JavaMail.root@dsmdc-mail-mbs12> <039e01cac210$2ee1b690$8ca523b0$@net>

On Mar 12, 2010, at 12:16 PM, Frank Filippone wrote:

> #1) Lenses are rarely faster than F2.8 or even F4 these days.,.....  
> gone are
> the days of the common F1.4-1.8-2 lenses... that is a lot of light to
> inherently lose....
> Zooms are the worst.... F5.6??????  that is 16 times dimmer than an  
> F1.4
> lens...  Focusing just plain harder with less light.....

When I discuss VF brightness - I assume the same lens/aperture
on different body/VF's -

> #2) Probably lousy Screens..... I swear the a few bucks spent for a  
> new
> screen would make a lot of these new cameras easier to manually
> focus.....but the AF lenses negate the secondary market demand for  
> such
> needs.....

Certainly a significant part of the VF system.
I've replaced the screen on my 5D to achieve maximum brightness.
It still does not come anywhere close to the brightness of any screen  
in the R8.

> #3) Our eyes..... Anyone over 40 out there?  Our eyes need more  
> light to get
> the contrast so we can actually see something.... Optometrists, and
> Ophthalmologists are welcome to pipe in....

Quite true - that the old eyes do not perform as well as the young eyes.
Yet, VF brightness remains a measurable, verifiable, objective reality;
not a variable function of the condition of the eyes.

> #4) Our memories....  I am not so sure that we can judge brightness  
> given #2
> above plus our memories over the past 20-40 years.....

In my case - the various systems have always overlapped one another.
By this I mean that I had Nikon F's and Leica R3's and an R8 at the  
same time.
Observations were not based on memories; but actual real time  
comparisons.
The rest were sold because none could compare with the R8.
Likewise I compared the R8 directly  to the dismal 10D and 20D as well
as the currently still owned 5D which can take all the R glass for  
comparison.

Regards,
George Lottermoser
george at imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist




In reply to: Message from wildlightphoto at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] Digital SLR viewfinders suck.)
Message from grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey at mchsi.com) ([Leica] Digital SLR viewfinders suck.)
Message from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Digital SLR viewfinders suck.)