Another FSU finder question

rbiemer

rbiemer

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There is another thread about the age of a turret finder and that led me to look at my FSU finders--I own three; one turret finder and two others one for 35m and one for 85mm--and looking at all of mine I note that they are each marked "24x36".

And that marking has me wondering if there were finders marked for other formats?

Rob
 
Unless the Soviets made rangefinder cameras using a film format other than 24×36-and I can't think of one then the answer is probably no.
 
fanshaw said:
Unless the Soviets made rangefinder cameras using a film format other than 24×36-and I can't think of one then the answer is probably no.
Click to expand...

I think you're right but I can't see the point of the marking unless there were different ones? It seems like an unnecessary step to engrave them like that.
The Soviets did make some half frame cameras but those are not interchangeable lens cameras and they were mostly made after the turret finder was introduced, I think.
The turret finder is a copy of a Zeiss finder(?) and Zeiss did make some odd format cameras over the years, so I guess the Zeiss finder would have been marked for the particular format?

This is just something silly that's bugging me...:bang:
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
I think you're right but I can't see the point of the marking unless there were different ones? It seems like an unnecessary step to engrave them like that.[...]
The turret finder is a copy of a Zeiss finder(?) and Zeiss did make some odd format cameras over the years, so I guess the Zeiss finder would have been marked for the particular format?
Click to expand...

As far as I remember, Zeiss did not make a interchangeable lens rangefinder in another format, so they would not have had any use for a turret finder in another format. But the Zeiss turret finders are engraved as well.

Strictly speaking the focal length engravings are incorrect (the tiny telescopes in there have very different optical data) unless related to a particular image size - wasting money on a engraving that is little more than applied pedantry sounds quite like Zeiss. And keeping such a engraving across generations without ever questioning it sounds very much like the USSR style in manufacturing...
 
I have an old FED stereo kit, containing a FED1 body, a 50mm f3.5 collapsible lens, a frame which screws onto the tripod socket and holds a pair of stereo prisms, and a half-frame finder. Both the frame and finder have the KMZ logo on them, but no "18 x 24" marking on the finder. That is the only non-24 x 36 FSU finder I have ever seen, so I guess the mystery remains mysterious.

Cheers,
Dez
 
sevo said:
As far as I remember, Zeiss did not make a interchangeable lens rangefinder in another format, so they would not have had any use for a turret finder in another format. But the Zeiss turret finders are engraved as well.
Click to expand...

Zeiss did make a similar turret finder in another smaller format, with different focal lengths : it was for a movie camera (movikon perhaps)
 
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