Leica M4 Rangefinder Camera Detailed Instructions

Excerpt

You are the owner of a LEICA^®

We hope that you will obtain as much enjoyment from it as all the many LEICA fans in every country of the globe.

As a LEICA man you have the benefit of a universal photographic system, which also covers the technical and Scientific field. In its widest sense, it includes the well known LEITZ enlargers and LEITZ miniature projectors. The projected image, huge, luminous, and realistic, reveals the full beauty of your colour photographs, and never fails to fascinate you and your friends. May your LEICA be a constant source of pleasure to you.

Yours sincerely
ERNST LEITZ GmbH, 633 WETZLAR
Germany

The rangefinder

The measuring field of the rangefinder appears in the centre of the viewfinder as a bright, sharply outlined oblong. If you block the large field window (17) of the viewfinder, only the reflected bright-line frame and the measuring field remain visible. Focusing can be carried out according to the coincidence or to the split image method.

Coincidence (double image) focusing: in portraiture, for instance, focus on the highlight in the sitter's eye. Observe the subject through the viewfinder and rotate the lens” until the double contours in the measuring field coincide.

Split-image focusing: Sight an edge or any other clear cut line; if you find that this line is offset sideways as it enters the measuring field, rotate the lens^* until the line becomes continuous as it passes from the viewfinder- into the measuring field and out again. This method is to be preferred because of its superior accuracy.

^* A few short-focal-length LEICA lenses engage at the infinity setting, and the lock (12) must be depressed to permit focusing on shorter distances. Pull out collapsible lenses and lock them in position.

The distance scale

The distance scale (13) indicates the distance on which the lens is set, and, in connection with the depth-of-field scale (11), the extent of the depth of field. The distance is also important to the calculation of the guide number during the use of flash equipment.

The aperture scale

The aperture scale is internationally laid down; the values have been chosen so that the quantity of light reaching the film is halved every time the lens is stopped down one step. One aperture step is equivalent to one step on the shutter speed dial (6) regarding the adjustment of the light quantity to which the film is exposed.

Like the shutter speed dial, the lens diaphragm ring clicks into position opposite each number (some diaphragm rings also at half values). This will enable you, after some practice, to identify the setting of the diaphragm even in the dark.

ERNTZ LEITZ GMBH WETZLAR GERMANY
Subsidiary: Erntz Leitz (Canada) Ltd., Midland, Ontario
List [110-72b/Engl.] Printed in Germany VI/69/DY/L