Basic lens/framelines question

[Another Jeremy]

Pardon my still learning, amateur ways...
I have a Fed 4 LTM (big brick workhorse of a camera) that works wonderfully. I'd like to put 28 or 35mm lens on there but don't really understand what will happen as far as composing the shots in the viewfinder. Do I need to get one of those viewfinders that attaches to the flash mount so that I can get an accurate picture of what I'm framing? I would assume so.

Thanks for indulging me.

 

[Doug]

Hi, Jeremy -- Yeah, you're right. You will need an external viewfinder to compose your shots. Sometimes the lenses are sold with a matching viewfinder, and that makes loads of sense to me. Especially where the lens is for a camera that doesn't feature matching viewfinder framelines built-in.

For instance, when I was shopping for a Jupiter-12 35mm f/2.8 for my Kiev 4, I saw several eBay vendors offered a combination with the matching viewfinder. But most didn't. I ended up getting them separately.

The Russian/Ukrainian 35mm finder is pretty nice, though the Voigtlander item is better. Voigtlander lenses 25mm and wider all come with a matching viewfinder, while the longer viewfinders are sold separately.

I think the only FSU 28mm is the f/6 Orion; awfully slow. Kind of an odd 4-element design but it appears to work fine. The 35mm Jupiter is an excellent lens of Zeiss design.

 

[rover]

There is a new CV 28/35 mini viewfinder. The bright lines for both focal length are visible at all times. This would be killing both birds with one stone, but it is a bit expensive, $145ish, compared to the Russian finders.

 

[iMacfan]

I'd recommend the Russian Multi-finders, which have separate optics for 28, 35, 50, 85 and 135mm. The front elements rotate round to select to required length. It's very usable and cheap, I managed to get one off eBay for abotu 50 USD. And it is contemporary for the FED to boot!

David

 

[Another Jeremy]

Thank you all for your help...much appreciated.

 

[jdos2]

I think the only FSU 28mm is the f/6 Orion; awfully slow. Kind of an odd 4-element design but it appears to work fine. The 35mm Jupiter is an excellent lens of Zeiss design.

Both are copies of Zeiss- the Orion is a copy of the Zeiss Topogon (just like the 65mm Mamiya Universal lens) Sharp, but slow.

And VERY pricey in Contax mount.

 

[Doug]

Thanks for the info, JD; didn't know that! 🙂