Sometimes you've got to frame your art carefully
Here’s another practical experience with the Leica M9 and the Elmar f/3.4 24 mm. I’ve been photographing a friend’s exhibition opening here in Berlin the day before yesterday. It had quite a turnout of people coming to see his imagined botanical drawings. Mingling with the crowd, I was looking for interesting angles and chanced upon this:
In the gallery (If this website had sound, I'd play the relevant Dire Straits title now…
Holding the camera above the heads at outstreched arms and angling it down approximately pointed at groups of people gave me the graphically most interesting shots of the evening. If the floor had been even lighter colored, the shapes could perhaps have floated in white space. Something to remember for a later project.
Then yesterday I did documentary photos of the artwork and the gallery installation, see lead photo. And I was glad I had bought this in the Berlin Leica Store in the morning:
Leica Zoom viewfinder 21 - 24 - 28 mm, aka goggles
It was used (is no longer made, and, curiously, sports a shame-faced “Made in Japan” script. Voigtländer? Or from the period of cooperation with Minolta?) and the only accessory viewfinder they had that gave a good approximation of what you’ll get on sensor with the Elmar f/3.4 24 mm. We tried a Zeiss 21 – 25 mm finder that was too wide and the original Leica brightline viewfinder was on order with an uncertain delivery date. Leica’s being overwhelmed by it’s own succes lately.
So, this was just an example that you can work both ways with a Leica and a wide angle. To frame or not to frame…
Tags: Elmar f/3.4 24mm, external viewfinder, Leica, M9, Zoom finder
November 13, 2011 at 6:58 am
with my 24 Summilux I use a Panasonic DMW-VF1 viewfinder, accurate, bright and small.
November 13, 2011 at 1:55 pm
That’s interesting!
How are the brightlines in this viewfinder? Are there parallax markings? How’s the eye relief? Can you use it with glasses? And lastly, does it distort much?
I know, many questions, but if they came out positive, it’d be an alternative to the obscenely expensive Leica brightline viewfinder.
It’d be splendid if you could find the time to answer!
November 13, 2011 at 9:33 pm
the bright lines are simply that
Bright!
Sigh!
Works fine with my eyes and glasses.
I have not noticed distortion too much.
Parallax markings ?
It’s quite small and very unobtrusive.
And best of all didn’t cost an arm or a leg.
I had the Tri-Elmar 16/18/21 with the Leica viewfinder and sold it as a package was simply not using it to it’s full potential. I possible OD’d on the Summilux 24, it’s heavy and VERY expensive