Kiev Viewfinder Parallax

R

ruben

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I have always been interested to know at what distance the Kievs viewfinder can be trusted for non parallax guillotine, and at what distance the image seen at the viewfinder will start to conradict the one on film. . All these for the standard Jupiter 8.

Today I checked that issue at my kitchen, and by saying kitchen I mean it was not a rigorous death and life systematic all weather test, but a kitchen one to get the basic idea: I did use tripod, Kiev with attached MF screen at its back, magnifier glass, and rule.

The distance of the turning point is accordingly 1.6 meter, at 1.6 being the last port of sanctuary free of parallax taxation.

Second thing I noticed is that glass wearers see a bit less of the viefinder field, than non-glass wearers. Within parallax guillotine distances, this is a small advantage over non glass wearers. Therefore at least for this row, we can stop complaining about our wearing of glasses.

Now how can we translate this info into a practical, easy to recognize marking on our cameras ? As you know, older Kievs have a double set of distances numbered markings, one seen with the lens collapsed, and the other showing itself more and more as we focus closer and closer to 0.9m, Newer Kievs whipped out this last set or numeral markings, leaving us only straight lines. In both cases we can black paint this last set of marks from 0.9m to 1.6m, with a black marker and the camera helical extended to maximum.

By doing so, we will have the quickest way to glance, when in doubt, if we are within the area of parallax cutting or out of it. Unfortunately black markers paint don't dwell over chrome but on a temporary basis only.

I hope this info is of help, and could be contrasted to others impressions, excperiences and tests.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Very interesting, that sounds about right to me. All my close portraits of people have been a little out when it gets to 2 meters, but it's hardly noticeable.
 
Did your test include left to right and up and down? Ive noticed on rf's with the viewfider directly over the lens that it only requires to tilt the camera up a little. Wth the viewfinder offset, it requires tilted up and a little to the left. Does the 1.6 meters include the left /right?
 
DaveP said:
Did your test include left to right and up and down? Ive noticed on rf's with the viewfider directly over the lens that it only requires to tilt the camera up a little. Wth the viewfinder offset, it requires tilted up and a little to the left. Does the 1.6 meters include the left /right?
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,
Yes the "test" included vertical and horizontal, being the vertical the biggest parallaxing one.

But I strongly emphasize it was a quick "kitchen test", perhaps just a kitchinette. My point wasn't so much to establish a mathematical formulation, but once in my life to have a sense of where parallax starts cutting heads, for a guy like me learning street photography, and heading for quick shots.

I took for granted that when parallax starts to influence I will be correcting both vertically and horizontally. But you insinuate a clever distinction that the correction movement may not be exactly diagonal. I didn't think about it. Nevertheless, at my level of practice, a gross correction will be enough for a start. But not enough for people used to rangefinder for years.

Thank you,
Ruben
 
Now, I would like to mention another problem of the Kiev viewfinder, perhaps obvious for many but not so for some.

In contrast to many or all RFs of the sixties and seventies, in which you have some space around the yellow border lines, the Kiev borders of the viewfinder are not generous at all, showing quite accurately what will be reproduced at film ( when focusing out of the parallax range).

Therefore if we just could have a suitable Nokton 40/1.4 - to use with our 50mm viewfinder, that would be a great investment... Steeeepheen !



...:bang: :bang: :bang:
 
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