645 rangefinder orientation

[stubbie]

Stupid question #289... why do all the cool 645 rangefinders have a vertical viewfinder? I am guessing so much reportage and street photography lent itself to a portrait orientation... are there other technical reasons at all?

Call me boring but at least 80% of my pics are landscape... does it bother people much? Is there indeed a light (ish) 645 rangefinder with a landscape viewfinder?

Thanks!

 

[lubitel]

medium format film is 6cm high, so it makes sense that an image of 6x4.5cm will be placed vertically on the negative to save space. kind of like the halfformat cameras fit 72 exposures on a 36mm film vertically.

 

[stubbie]

Thank you - that's what happens when you haven't shot MF before. Knew it must have been simple!

 

[Pablito]

Stupid question #289... why do all the cool 645 rangefinders have a vertical viewfinder?!

It's only vertical if you hold the camera horizontaly.
😀 😀 😀

 

[Doug]

Indeed, as Lubitel implies, 6x4.5 IS a half-frame format with respect to 6x9, and shares with 35 half-frame that consequence of the long side of the frame being cross-wise to the film strip. Some users find this disconcerting, but it can be handy too. BTW, unlike 645 RFs, 645 SLRs run the film vertically so they have a naturally horizontal frame.

One unusual exception that used less than the full width of the film was the 44x66mm frame option from ALPA. Obviously 66mm is too wide to fit the film cross-wise, so the frame is turned so that it uses only 44mm of the width. Why the smaller frame and "wasted" film width? To fit the image circle of the marvelous (and discontinued) ALPA Zeiss Biogon T* 4.5/38mm. With its 80mm image circle, this lens will cover 56x56mm square, but the largest 1:1.5 aspect ratio frame it can cover is 44x66mm...

 

[Abbazz]

Just want to add that frame orientation depends on the direction of film travel: the frame is vertical on folders and rangefinder cameras which have horizontal film travel, while it is horizontal on 4.5x6 single lens reflex cameras which have vertical film travel.

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[Keith]

medium format film is 6cm high, so it makes sense that an image of 6x4.5cm will be placed vertically on the negative to save space. kind of like the halfformat cameras fit 72 exposures on a 36mm film vertically.

That's hilarious ... I've had my Bronica RF645 for six months now and that never occured to me. I remember thinking to myself when I got the camera "I wonder why they made portrait format the default orientation?" Doh! 😛