105mm question

Traut

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I just acquired a 105mm LTM lens. What are the viewfinder options?

90mm - is it too wide to approximate?
105mm Nikon - very expensive
100mm Canon - probably OK

What do you suggest? Thanks HT
 
Depends on what distance the lens is focused at. There angle of view shrinks the farther the lens is racked out, so the closer you focus the smaller the framelines should get if they changed, but they don't. So to avoid any possibility of cutting off heads and arms and such, Leica made the framelines so they were the size needed at the closest focusing point. Therefore if you depend on the 90mm framelines for a 105mm lens, you might need to make sure nothing important is near the edge of the lines at minimum distance, but from there out and especially when the lens is at infinity, the 90mm frames will probably be closer to the 105mm angle of view than a 90! So if you can handle that bit of mental estimating, you can avoid the cost and inconvenience of an extra finder, at least with your M bodies, just use the 90mm adaptor. The bright-line shoe finders are done the same way as the M framelines so you'll need to make the same concessions. You're not saved by using a 100 or 105 finder either, because though they're marked for parallax the frames don't grow or shrink either. They're all spot-on at one distance, off at all the others. Just the nature of finders made for interchangable lenses. AFAIK only some rangefinder cameras with a fixed lens, like the Fuji GS670 series have frames that compensate for change in angle of coverage. I'm not sure about the Mamiya 7 though.
 
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The Tewe is a good finder, although quite large. Mine goes from 35 to 200, but isn't specifically marked for 105. The squinty little Canon finders from the Serenar period are good once you get used to them. They made one for 100mm.
 
I've been using the inside of the framelines of the M3 90mm frames for mine. It has worked out well.
 
I have a couple of suggestions. Look for a universal finder that offers 105mm. I have one that may be a Walz but I'm not certain because it doesn't say Walz on it. It's looks very much like the Leitz Imarect and was probably modeled after it.

The Leitz Imarect has two lines for setting the view. The short line is for tight cropping. IMO, the short line set to the 90mm mark would be almost perfect for the 105mm. The Imarect also offers superior parallax adjustment.

Walker
 
furcafe said:
Not all the Nikon 10.5cm finders are expensive, only the brightline versions.

Yes.

Another approach is the Nikon Varifocal which uses a zoom approach. Not as convenient and accurate as the more expensive Variframe but much more affordable at around $150 on eBay.

Covers 35 to 135 including 105.
 
Why is the Variframe more accurate than the Varifocal? I thought it was more expensive than the Varifocal simply because it's more rare.

copake_ham said:
Yes.

Another approach is the Nikon Varifocal which uses a zoom approach. Not as convenient and accurate as the more expensive Variframe but much more affordable at around $150 on eBay.

Covers 35 to 135 including 105.
 
You could also mount 85/90mm and 105mm lenses onto an SLR -- borrowed or at a camera shop -- to get a sense of the difference between the two focal lengths (this is where sighting on bookcases helps). With some practice, I think you could get used to framing the 105mm inside the 85 or 90mm frameline using some generous mental cropping. I do the opposite with a Nikon S3 -- shooting the 85mm lens using the 105mm frameline -- you get in real tight and know there'll be more space on the edges. If your camera has 85/90 frames, it wouldn't be hard to get a mental picture of where the 105mm falls within those frames. You could also accomplish the same thing by getting the lens's angle of view (this is usually the diagonal, like a TV-screen measurement) and using a protractor to get a sense of its field of view compared to a known finder or lens. I think, in the long run, for telephotos it's better to build a mental picture of the focal length than to use a separate finder. Focusing a telephoto is much more critical than a wide, so it's that much harder to switch back and forth between the camera's main finder and an accessory viewfinder. In a clutch, you can frame a 105 using a 50mm frameline -- the lens, if memory serves correct, takes up about a quarter of the field of view.

It's true that image size on any lens shifts with focal length, but I wouldn't get too hung up on it. Every (or nearly every) interchangeable-lens RF camera in everyday use has to deal with this issue, and they deal with it by ignoring it. Those jobs where precise framing is super-critical are best left to digital or to SLRs with 100-percent viewfinders.

By the way, congrats on that lens. It's one of the best ever. But be warned it's very heavy, more than 1 pound (500+g), because of thick glass and generous brass fittings. On the other hand, that makes it a dream to handhold in low light. I can routinely shoot my 105 at 1/30th of a second and have had acceptable results at 1/15th and, when pressed, 1/8th.
 
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