M2 Viewfinder Eyepiece

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

I now need glasses for long sight and although I don’t generally use them, I notice focusing my M2 can be slightly difficult, although I can manage. If I wear my long sight glasses and look through the viewfinder, I can’t quite see all the frame lines.

My question – is it possible to insert a prescription lens in the eyepiece of the M2 to correct this?

chuckroast · Mar 16, 2025

They are indeed available, but you'll need to know which corrective power you need. For example:

https://leicastoremiami.com/products/leica-diopter-correction-lens-m-2-0?variant=345676085

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

Thanks chuckroast, but do I have to buy through Leica? Or could I get my local opticians to make one the correct size and fit it myself?

chuckroast · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
Thanks chuckroast, but do I have to buy through Leica? Or could I get my local opticians to make one the correct size and fit it myself?

I would imagine one could have one made to fit the camera. I wonder, though, if it would be much of a savings at the end of the day.

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
Thanks chuckroast, but do I have to buy through Leica? Or could I get my local opticians to make one the correct size and fit it myself?

You optician could make a diopter, but won't have the ring to fit the eyepiece.

chuckroast · Mar 16, 2025

GregY said:
You optician could make a diopter, but won't have the ring to fit the eyepiece.

Best bet would be to figure out what the correction the OP needs and keep on eye on the auction sites and/or place a Wanted advert here.

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

chuckroast said:
Best bet would be to figure out what the correction the OP needs and keep on eye on the auction sites and/or place a Wanted advert here.

Chuck the OP is in the UK.... i'm sure he can find a diopter there.

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

GregY said:
You optician could make a diopter, but won't have the ring to fit the eyepiece.

I thought it may replace the glass in the present viewfinder.

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
I thought it may replace the glass in the present viewfinder.

I don't believe that piece is easily removeable...

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

Cliveh here's what i believe to be a quandary..... I also wear glasses corrected for distance..& have prescription sunglasses, which i wear constantly. Since the rangefinder is at close distance, i have difficulty focusing on the rangefinder with my glasses on. I take them off...Same situation with my Rolleiflex...i'm not looking at the distant subject, but rather trying to get the groundglass in focus only inches from my eyes.

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

GregY said:
Cliveh here's what i believe to be a quandary..... I also wear glasses corrected for distance..& have prescription sunglasses, which i wear constantly. Since the rangefinder is at close distance, i have difficulty focusing on the rangefinder with my glasses on. I take them off...Same situation with my Rolleiflex...i'm not looking at the distant subject, but rather trying to get the groundglass in focus only inches from my eyes.

Yes, but I seldom frame something very close.

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
Yes, but I seldom frame something very close.

I understand that C, but the problem i have is using glasses corrected for distance to 'focus' on the rangefinder patch which is a scant distance from my eye.
Hypothetically, if you put a diopter on your camera, will you continue to wear glasses and then remove them to take photographs?

chuckroast · Mar 16, 2025

I think the point is that when you are focusing a camera - even at a distance - you eye's point of focus is the viewfinder patch (or screen in the case of an SLR or mirrorless).

GregY · Mar 16, 2025

chuckroast said:
I think the point is that when you are focusing a camera - even at a distance - you eye's point of focus is the viewfinder patch (or screen in the case of an SLR or mirrorless).

Exactly

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

Thanks guys and think I have figured a way forward.

reddesert · Mar 16, 2025

The eyepiece viewing system of an SLR or rangefinder typically is designed to produce an image whose apparent distance is about 1 meter from your eye - closer than the actual object, but much larger than the physical distance to the screen or RF spot.

It's different than trying to look directly at the screen of a TLR, where you really are trying to look directly at an image on the groundglass a few inches from your eye. I can still use an SLR without glasses, but I can't focus a TLR without using either glasses or the pop-up magnifier.

Camera manufacturers often label the eyepiece screw-on diopters with the value that corresponds to your prescription, not the actual diopter of the eyepiece. So if you use +2 reading glasses, you buy the +2 Nikon diopter. It alone is not a +2, but it combines with the existing eyepiece to give you the proper correction. I don't know if Leica uses a similar numbering system, but a Leica dealer probably knows.

I know this is heresy, but IIRC some of the former-Soviet screwmount rangefinders have an adjustable eyepiece diopter built in.

Pieter12 · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
I thought it may replace the glass in the present viewfinder.

Be aware that the viewfinder already has a diopter value (-.5, I think), so anything you would manage to have made and fit would have to take that into account.

cliveh · Mar 16, 2025

Pieter12 said:
Be aware that the viewfinder already has a diopter value (-.5, I think), so anything you would manage to have made and fit would have to take that into account.

Why would it have this?

Pieter12 · Mar 16, 2025

cliveh said:
Why would it have this?

In order to correct for the sometimes complex optics involved. Many camera viewfinders have a diopter value built-in. My Rollei 6008 and Hy6 prism finders have a default +8.5 diopter. So, if I have a marked +1 correction lens for that viewfinder, it would measure +9.5 at an optician.

The diopter lenses sold by Leica are added to the existing viewfinder lens, so you would just need one labeled for the correction you want. But if you are replacing the existing one with one of your own fabrication, you would have to take into account the diopter value of the lens that Leica put there in the first place.

Patrick Robert James · Mar 16, 2025

The diopter you need to use with glasses is a combination of your glasses, the native diopter amount in the viewfinder, and what you need to see at around 3-6 feet or so depending on the camera. Usually that ends up being around a +1 to a +2. It can be very confusing since each camera can be a little different. For Leica, my reading glasses are just about perfect and they are a +2 from my distance prescription so I probably should get a +2 if I ever get around to it. My Contax 139 uses a +1.5. For my Konica Hexar it is somewhere between a +1 and +2 because neither is perfect.

If you can go to a Leica dealer, that would be your best bet. Leica diopters aren't cheap enough to play eenie meenie minee moe....

Hope that helps...

mshchem · Mar 16, 2025

I have progressive lenses in my glasses. I can focus any camera I own. If you have lenses that are for distance at the top and little correction at the bottom you should be fine.

Kodachromeguy · Mar 17, 2025

Different companies equipped pop up finders with different diopters. With my Hasselblad 501CM, I can see the screen with my left eye perfectly, no close-up glasses needed. I bought the camera used, so I do not know if this is a stock diopter in the finder.

With my Rolleiflex 3.5E, I need to wear my extra close close-up glasses (+3). It is irritating. Decades ago, Rollei sold many diopters, but they are long gone.

I have no experience with others screen cameras, like Yashicamats or Bronicas.

250swb · Mar 17, 2025

cliveh said:
I now need glasses for long sight and although I don’t generally use them, I notice focusing my M2 can be slightly difficult, although I can manage. If I wear my long sight glasses and look through the viewfinder, I can’t quite see all the frame lines.

My question – is it possible to insert a prescription lens in the eyepiece of the M2 to correct this?

Red Dot Cameras in London have a large selection of secondhand dioptres and being Leica specialists they'll be able to tell you exactly which type fits your M2, so all you need to do is find your prescription or even ask them if they do a returns policy if you want to try and guess.

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/249-m-accessories

scroll down until you get to the dioptres.

Personally I use varifocal glasses and it's simply a case of putting the right part of the lens up against the eyepiece, and it's the central area anyway so in my case it feels very natural.

M2 Viewfinder Eyepiece

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