You can get away with not using a finder most of the time, but I always use a finder with the 28 if I care about the shots. Took some great pictures with my Bessa-R and 3.5 28 of the Napali coast on Kauai a couple of years ago ... thought they were clean, but ended up with little bits of boat in the frame. It was very depressing, especially since I had a finder in my bag, but was just too lazy to get it out.