Bessa L + 17mm without a viewfinder?

[FredtheLlama]

Hi folks,

I'm thinking about buying a cheap Bessa L to use with my Tokina 17mm lens and FD to LTM adaptor. Obviously I don't have a 17mm viewfinder, but does it really matter with a lens that wide?

Thinking it could be a fun point and shoot till I grab a 21mm skopar for it.

 

[gb hill]

My Bessa L has the 25/4 on it. Also has the early version 25mmfinder without the framelines. Don't really need the framelines & using the 17mm lens don't think you would need a finder. I shoot Canon FD lenses on my Canon's & most those FD lenses are pretty heavy. The 21 skopar will be fun.

 

[FredtheLlama]

Oh yeah, it's a big fat lens! I know it will be 'front heavy'. Just thought I could use it while I save for the skopar.

 

[traveler_101]

I suppose you could use it w/o a viewfinder, but I like having the viewfinder when I shoot with a 15.

Anyway I was just wondering about your choice of the 21mm Skopar. You may have very good reasons for going after a 21mm lens, but you will pay more for that lens (in part because both the M and the LTM mounts are rangefinder coupled) than you will pay for a 25mm Snapshot Skopar which lacks the coupling. The L lacks a rangefinder as you know. The 25mm lens also has built in focusing tabs - something to consider.

 

[BillBingham2]

I'd try to build my own ikodot style of finder.

Wire frames are straight forward to build from strong copper wire and a few tools.

They've been bounced around herein a couple of threads but you can Google it.

Find an old flash from 30 years ago and harvest the hotshoe as a mount (base).

Keeps the cost down.

If you a kick butt kit, go with the older 25 snap-shot on your L. It was my favorite street and every day carry camera for many years.

B2

 

[FredtheLlama]

Bill,

I hadn't thought about that. That's not a bad idea. How would I go about calculating the 17mm angle of view though?

Just stick the lens on my slr and guesstimate?

 

[rbiemer]

Bill,

I hadn't thought about that. That's not a bad idea. How would I go about calculating the 17mm angle of view though?

Just stick the lens on my slr and guesstimate?

I think the easiest way is to do this:

Two of these diagrams--one like this and another with the base length at 24mm would give you the horizontal and vertical FOV. You could then make a basic frame finder or ikodot type based on those diagrams.

Rob

 

[MaxElmar]

Rob's diagram is cool, but another easy way to do it is cut out a rectangle (or make a wire frame) the same size as the film frame and hold it 17mm from your eye. Or any distance equal to the focal length of the lens in question. BOOM - multifinder! If you're handy, you can make something to fit in the flash shoe. 17 is little tight - that's about where your eyeglass lens would be. This is how the wire finder works on a Speed Graphic. There's a peep sight at the film plane and the wire frame (3" x 4" in my case) sits (more or less ) at the nodal point of the lens. Since the lenses for the Speed are neither telephoto nor retrofocus this automatically works pretty well for most focal lengths. Unlike a fancy Leica RF/VF it even shows the change of the field of field of view through the focal range! You can correct for parallax at the peep sight by moving it up and down.