Bessa L viewfinder question

[Tim Murphy]

Dear Board,

I just purchased a Bessa L and I am wondering if the Russian turret finder for my Zorki 4 will be sufficient for providing frame lines to compose pictures. My most used lenses are 35mm and 50mm with an occasional shot with a 90mm. The finder I have is relatively clean and bright and I'd rather not purchase individual finders for each lens. I realize I can just try it and see, but I'd prefer to hear from someone who has done it, so I am aware of any potential problems in advance.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂

 

[santino]

RF photography and exact framing is always a bit problematc (you probably know that). What type of finder do you have, for Kievs or Zorkis?

 

[Tim Murphy]

RF photography and exact framing is always a bit problematc (you probably know that). What type of finder do you have, for Kievs or Zorkis?

Dear santino,

I have one of each type, Zorki and Kiev since the shoe foot is offset on the cameras. The Zorki finder should be in line with the center of the lens because when viewed from above the top plate of the Bessa L has the flash shoe is in the same position as on the Zorki 4.

I guess I'll just have to wait for the camera to try it and see what happens.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂

 

[David Murphy]

It will work just fine! The Russian turret finder I own is very good and useful finder. The nice thing about the Bessa L is that you can use all sorts of finders, old and new, expensive or inexpensive, and are free to experiment as well.

 

[Tim Murphy]

It will work just fine! The Russian turret finder I own is very good and useful finder. The nice thing about the Bessa L is that you can use all sorts of finders, old and new, expensive or inexpensive, and are free to experiment as well.

Dear David,

Thank you! Sometimes I need a kick in my arse just to convince me to go ahead and try it. I consider myself kicked!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂

 

[santino]

You will be fine 👍

 

[Coldkennels]

I'm going to be a dissenting voice here and say... maybe not.

The Soviet Turret seems to be slightly wider on the 35mm and 28mm settings than any other viewfinder I have for those focal lengths (and I have a few), with the 28mm in particular being closer to 25mm than any 28mm lens I've ever used. On top of that, by the time you get to 90mm, viewfinder design and the hotshoe position is a lot more crucial.

If you have a stack of equivalent accessory viewfinders from different manufacturers, put a camera on a tripod, mount them all in the accessory shoe one after another, and you'll see none of them give the same framing. That's because they're designed based on the position of the accessory shoe for the camera they were designed for, and that can vary wildly. Sometimes that's not even consistent within one brand - look at the position (height and horiztonal offset) of the accessory shoe in a Leica Ic compared to a IIIg, for example (and I still have no idea what Leitz' RASUK finder was optimised for).

As @santino pointed out, RF framing is always a bit of an inexact science, and you can get away with a lot - but I do recommend testing and seeing if it's "close enough" for you. Luckily, the Bessa L has an SLR-style swing-back, and you can lock the shutter open, put some ground glass on the film rails, compare the actual framing with the view through the turret finder, and see if it's within permissable limits for you. If it's not, it might be worth considering picking up some Voigtlander finders - they're likely to be as close to 1:1 with the actual framing as you'll get.