45mm viewfinder Help!

[Paulo]

Hi I am sad to say that whilst travelling in asia I have lost my 45mm viewfinder, doh!
I was wondering if anyone has lost their 45mm lens leaving them with a v/f that they may want to sell me 😉 Also i would be very interested to know how much the cameras viewfinder crops from the 45mm field of view? I remember reading somewhere that some people dont bother with th V/F and make do without, any advice on framing would be of great interest to me. I must say that the rf645 is proving a fantastic camera to travel with.

Thanks in advance
Paul.

 

[Doug]

Hi Paul -- I expect you should be able to obtain a replacement viewfinder through your Bronica/Tamron importer's customer service. I admit to never using mine, just going with the entire area of the camera finder window. But this has caused some framing errors too, especially with closer subjects, resulting in lopped-off body parts and such. Annoying, but then such use of the viewfinder offers no guide to parallax error, so one has to keep alert and think it out oneself.

 

[Paulo]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks Doug , I think my brother has tracked one down in New Zealand, sorry about the Very late reply , been away from electricity for a while.

Regards

Paul

 

[sircarl]

Hi Doug,

It's not quite true to say the 45mm viewfinder "offer no guide to parallax error." It has an inner and outer rectangle, the former to be used when you're 1-3 meters away, the latter for when you're further. It's a pretty rough guide I admit, but a guide nevertheless!

 

[Doug]

It's not quite true to say the 45mm viewfinder "offer no guide to parallax error." It has an inner and outer rectangle, the former to be used when you're 1-3 meters away, the latter for when you're further. It's a pretty rough guide I admit, but a guide nevertheless!

You're absolutely right, Carl! However I was referring to the camera's main viewfinder when pressed into service for the 45mm lens. The camera's viewfinder doesn't offer parallax-corrected framelines for this focal length, but one can "make do" and closely approximate the 45mm view by using the whole window as a guide. Obviously one drawback of this practice is the lack of any help with parallax errors.

I do feel some comfort in that there is less parallax in using the camera's viewfinder than in using the top-mounted accessory viewfinder. That is, the accessory 45mm viewfinder, by virtue of its position higher above the lens, has more parallax error to deal with than the camera's own viewfinder. On the other hand, its location directly above the lens means its parallax is only in the vertical direction, not both directions like the camera. On yet another hand, it has unfortunate barrel distortion making it harder to line up with "square" subjects. On still another hand its view of the world is wider than its clear framelines so you can see "outside the box", not possible with the camera's whole window.

I choose not to use the accessory viewfinder, but using it is certainly a reasonable choice too! Yet if you're right-eyed, you may fog the main viewfinder window with breath from your nose. 🙂 I have to add that the Fuji GA645Wi's fixed 45mm f/4 leads to a viewfinder with framelines for this angle of view moving to correct for parallax, plus changing size to correct for field-size too, plus focusing down to 0.7m. I really wish the Bronica could do all that.

 

[sircarl]

Doug,

Sorry I misread your post. You are of course correct about the parallax problems, with both the camera finder and the accessory finder. I suspect it's a difficulty encountered with most accessory finders -- I come across it with my G2's finder for its 21 mm lens. I used to have a Mamiya 7II with an accessory finder for the 50 mm lens, which WAS capable of being adjusted to compensate for parallax error. But it was such a fiddly process that I often forgot to use it!

I am a new RF645 user, so I haven't yet found I'm fogging the camera finder window when I use the accessory finder. In fact, what I really like about that finder is that when you take a horizontal shot, you can hold the camera in (what is for me) a more natural shooting position, with the right hand on top and the left hand supporting the camera. I still haven't gotten comfortable with the right-hand-on-bottom position you need to use with the other lenses.

 

[Doug]

Hi Carl-- The Voigtlander 90mm external viewfinder has parallax adustment, and like you mention with the Mamiya unit, I too usually forget to adjust it! Canon got it right, so many years ago, with a pin in the accessory shoe that rose and fell with the lens focus, automatically tilting the viewfinder...

I can remember back to my own tests some 40+ years ago to see which turned-camera orientation seemed more useful to me. I'm left-eyed, so that gave the right-side-down an advantage. Further, with a direct-viewfinder camera, turning left-down made it hard to keep my left hand from partly blocking the view. Right-down seems less contortionist, and more discrete, and facilitates tucking elbows into the side for a steadier hold at slow shutter speeds, and that's what I still prefer today. Obviously a personal choice, as I see lots of folks doing it the other way too!

 

[sircarl]

Doug,

One other factor to throw into the equation. Supporting the camera with your right hand (what you call "right side down" position) means the same hand it's resting on is also the one whose digit is pushing the shutter button. Don't know what your experience has been, but I would guess you're more likely to get camera shake this way, no?

 

[Doug]

I think either orientation includes a firm grip with the right hand, especially while the left changes aperture and focus. 🙂 I try to use opposing pressure so as not to move the camera with my press on the shutter button... I seem to do at least as well as most with steadiness at slow speeds, and some of this arises from experience with target shooting. But, no, I don't think my right-down camera orientation is a disadvantage in this, though I do think a horizontal camera is easier to steady.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

HI,

When i do street shooting woth the 45mm I usualy don't use the seperate finder but just the normal vf. It might be a bit tighter but comes very close. It is much faster that way but might not work when wearing glasses. Also when I use the seperate vf my nose sticks into camera vf and gets dirty all the time. Very annoying.
Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema