135mm lens and parallax

[st. paulitan]

Hey guys,

I recently acquired a Canon 135mm lens for my Bessa R. It also came with the finder for the hot shoe where I can dial in the distance. Sometimes I get the parallax right; matching the distance on the lens with the finder, and other times it's clearly off when I get the shots back. Aside from just practicing, anybody got any tips on getting it right? Any distances best for this lens? I'm also assuming that merely using ca. 60% of the 90mm finder on the camera won't get the parallax right.

Thanks!

Bill

 

[peterm1]

These finders were designed for use with the lens mounted on a Canon rangfinder. What is important is the height of the finder above the centre line of the lens. Compare a Bessa body with a Canon body and find out if the height is more or less (I do now know as I have never used a Bessa) That will give you a guide to experiment with. If the Bessa is taller than the Canon, then you will need to allow for more parallax than is marked on the finder. If its less tall, the reverse applies. It is easier to shoot at a distance as at infinity parallax has comparatively less effect. If you are serious about it, set up a target - a piece of paper marked with a suitable target that it and experiment at different distances / different parallax angles on the finder. Before shooting, mark on the target the distance and viewfinder setting you are using for that shot so that when the film is developed you can find out which works best.

 

[pvdhaar]

At a close focus distance of 0.9m/3ft, the difference in parallax between a Bessa-R and a Canon shouldn't lead to any practical problems. Just make sure that you're not using a metric scale on the lens and a foot scale on the finder (or the other way round)..

 

[payasam]

Bill, you can fix a piece of tracing paper over the Bessa's film gate and compare the image on that with what you see in the finder. You'll soon find out if distance scales on lens and finder do not read the same. Camera on tripod, of course.