While the M3 had the longest Leica baseline it also had the lowest
magnification at .92 which negated the advantage to some extent, I
believe. The Contax (and Kiev) had the longest baseline (had to
modify your grip to avoid covering the RF window) and the new Voigt
R3a has a lifesize finder (and it's great).
Yes, Cos/Voigt make a 75mm but so does Leica which I suspect is more
of an incentive than rf design. Both the Voigt R2a and R3a have 75mm
and 90mm framelines.
I suspect that the long baseline issue was more to do with accurately
focussing fast lenses like the 50mm f1. I owned a CL for a while and
it was common knowledge that with its short baseline, using anything
below an f2 Summicron was a bad idea.
AndrewF
On 29/08/2005, at 9:19 AM, Winsor Crosby wrote:
> With rangefinders it is all about the baseline. The M3 had the
> longest baseline of a line of Leicas with long baselines. The focus
> breakpoint was 135mm on the M3. Any longer and you would not get an
> accurate focus. There was never any problem at the wide end since the
> rangefinder did not vary in length and there was lots of depth of
> field. That is why all those Olympus small RF cameras had baselines
> about an inch long. Their little fixed 35mm lenses did not need more.
> Cameras with shorter rangefinder baselines were limited to shorter
> lenses. It is why some of these newer Japanese Leica copies have a
> 75mm lens option. They have short baselines.
>
> With Leica now you can order models with different viewfinder
> magnifications which changes the baseline and the frames. So the
> model that takes the 28 mm WA is going to take a shorter maximum
> length lens. SLR designers are under no such optical restraints and
> can design lengths they think their customers will find most
> desirable. At least that is the way I understand it.
>
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