Do you really need a finder for a 15mm lens?

[wrs1145]

Do you really need a finder for a 15mm lens? Can I use a 25mm finder, or none at all using outer edges of my Canon VF?

Thanks and happy shooting,
Bill

 

[TenEleven]

15 is very much a huge amount wider than 25mm - its not even in the same ballpark.
We're talking 50mm compared to 28mm FOV. Also, if you mean the vintage Canon VF (silver and black) it's already meant to be used edge-to-edge for 25mm.

83°degrees diagonal view for a 25mm VS c.a. 112°degrees for 15mm iirc. (e.g. 28mm is 84° VS 50mm is 47° = 28° difference. Your example is 29°!)
Absolutely not comparable.

To add some context, each mm on the wide-angle end means a large increase in FOV, inversely at the tele-end (lets say 100mm+) each extra mm means almost nothing and you need much larger jumps for a noticeable difference in FOV.

 

[Richard G]

In a word no. You are likely to include everything you can see. The problem with suprer wides, and accessory finders, is getting the camera orientation correct. I use super wides for architectural shots, cropping the lower half foreground to have corrected verticals. But the horizontals also matter. For this reason my favourite film camera for a 21 or 18 is the M5. It is a large flat body. It is necessary to have the film plane parallel to the face of the building minding not just the vertical orientation but also the horizontal, or the building will shrink towards the sky or the ground, or to left or right. Finally before pressing the shutter button I leave the accessory finder (18 is as wide as I have) and I use the camera's VF and particularly the rangefinder patch to level the camera.

 

[sojournerphoto]

Depends how much you like surprises! 36 per roll may be pushing it.

 

[mtnbkr]

I'm going to buck the trend here and say no, a 15mm finder isn't absolutely necessary. While I don't have it anymore, I often used my VT 15mm on my Canon rangefinder with the native Canon viewfinder because I didn't feel like carrying the 15mm finder with me. Usually that was because I was bringing the 15mm lens "just in case" and mainly using a 35mm or 50mm lens. I limited my shots to scenes where a "surprise" in the space not seen in the finder wouldn't be a problem and I composed the shot using the 35mm view of the Canon. It worked fine for me.

I wouldn't shoot an entire roll that way, nor would I recommend doing that if composition was critical, but for the way I was using 15mm, it worked fine for the odd shot mixed in with a roll of mostly 35mm and 50mm shots.

Chris

 

[jaredangle]

21mm is almost somewhat close to the FOV of 15mm, so you could use a cheap 3D-printed finder and visualize the extra FOV from there.

21/24/28/35mm External Optical Side Axis Camera Viewfinder for Ricoh GR Leica X | eBay

Replace the old, broken or non-working optical side axis viewfinder. 1 x Optical Side Axis Viewfinder. Due to the light and screen difference, the item's color may be slightly different from the pictures.

www.ebay.com

Not sure why it says “pardon our interruption,” but that’s an eBay link to the inexpensive accessory viewfinders.

 

[sojournerphoto]

21mm is almost somewhat close to the FOV of 15mm, so you could use a cheap 3D-printed finder and visualize the extra FOV from there.

21/24/28/35mm External Optical Side Axis Camera Viewfinder for Ricoh GR Leica X | eBay

Replace the old, broken or non-working optical side axis viewfinder. 1 x Optical Side Axis Viewfinder. Due to the light and screen difference, the item's color may be slightly different from the pictures.

www.ebay.com

Not sure why it says “pardon our interruption,” but that’s an eBay link to the inexpensive accessory viewfinders.

The TTArtisan 21mm finder is OK, but I still think the 15 is a lot wider

 

[santino]

The narrowest finder I‘d use, that is not 15mm, would be 18mm.
The best you can get would be the 16mm finder of the Zeiss Hologon, but it costs as much as a lens 😉

 

[FotohuisR]

I am using the C.V. zoom v.f. on my M7 with 15mm, 21mm and 28mm lenses. So I have the super wide Heliar 15mm, for the rest Leica lenses.

 

[sojournerphoto]

There is a CV 15mm finder that used to come with the LTM lens. They are very occasionally available from auction sites.

 

[Godfrey]

I have 10mm in M mount and 38mm on the Hasselblad SWC. For both, I occasionally eschew the viewfinder entirely and simply put a two-axis level in the accessory shoe. It's remarkably effective once you get the hang of pointing the camera and working with the level...

G

 

[wrs1145]

Thanks, guys.

 

[38Deardorff]

There is a CV 15mm finder that used to come with the LTM lens. They are very occasionally available from auction sites.

Dozens currently available on *bay....

 

[santino]

There is a CV 15mm finder that used to come with the LTM lens. They are very occasionally available from auction sites.

Yes, it is made out of plastic but it is bright and doesn‘t flare much. Since we are talking rf ultra wide, precise framing is impossible anyway.

 

[trix4ever]

I had the early version made with Nikon F mount and I used it with a plain prism F with the Voigtlander finder over the rewind crank. I almost never used the finder.
I now use the 15mm version iii on a sony A7s, sometimes my M240. it's a lot easier to visualise the relationship between near and far objects and get things level if that's what's needed.
On film I would not bother with a finder. Just try to keep it level, you soon get a feel for what's included, which is nearly everything.

 

[Bill Blackwell]

I could have picked a better subject to demonstrate, but you'll get the idea.

Just to show the difference between 25mm and 15mm FL, here are two pix I took in my office/loft - the first with my 25mm Zeiss Biogon ZM - the second with my 15mm Heliar III.

Do you need another finder for the 15mm? You decide.

 

[Dralowid]

From my limited experience, no I don't think you do need a viewfinder but you may find a mini spirit level of some description very useful.

 

[jbielikowski]

From my limited experience, no I don't think you do need a viewfinder but you may find a mini spirit level of some description very useful.

Good point, I like UWA perspective better when shooting from the waist level not eye level but I also like to to keep lines straight.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I prefer straight lines and use a Voigtlander 15-35mm multi format zoomfinder

 

[David Murphy]

Probably not, but some testing is called for.