Now, I know that the finder coverage is about 90 %, but I have always assumed the cropping to be symmetrical. I carried out a small experiment and I can confirm that it is not! Referring to lanscape orientation, left and right cropping is about the same amount. However, the cropping at top is about 50 % larger than at the bottom, which accounts for the left-right asymmetry I noticed in my portrait-orientation shots. The experiment was pretty simple and not extremely precise, but it works all right: I put some cm-scales (eg. a ruler) on a wall in a cross, aligned the film plane with the wall, centered the lens on the cross and took a picture (use slides, prints will get cropped by the lab) from a suitable distance (100mm from 2 meters, 50mm from 1 metre in my case). More pictures with more lenses means better statistics... I had the camera on a tripod of course, and before moving the setup I noted the ruler readings at the four edges. When the slides came back I calculated the differences and compared results from using the two lenses. No differences between the 100 and the 50mm. And very unmistakeably an asymmetry in the vertical direction. Now questions: - Is this asymmetry normal for the FE2 (would be pretty stupid!)? - Is it found on other Nikon bodies - any experiences anybody? - If it is not normal, what could then be the cause and would there be any remedy? My best guess is a misalignment of the mirror, since it is in the vertical direction. Hope to find help here! Thomas Dall
