Brightening The Yellow Patch

I found that the base of some B&W films can be used as the ND filter. But not all are suitable.

I could compare Foma, Ilford Pan and Ilford Pan F Plus. Of these the Ilford Pan F Plus is the best (sharpest view through), the others work like softeners 🙂

I used the base of Ilford Pan F Plus and placed it in my Canonet finder and it works as it should - the viewfinder is slightly darker, but the RF patch and framelines have more contrast in the darker viewfinder. A great improvement overall.

Thanks Ruben.
 
After reading this thread with interest, especially Spyderman's reply made me thinking if shooting several color motives on slide film would provide wide enough selection for experiments ?

There were also several RF's (including Petri's Green-O-Matic "system", used on 7s) on which RF's focusing window (do I name it correctly, at least to identify ?) were covered with colored "filter", exactly to make focusing easier. My Petri 7s seems to deliver better contrast than Electro 35, I'm surprised by side-by-side comparison.
 
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Ruben, thank you for the great idea. I ordered 3 large sheets of neutral density gel filters- .15, .3, .6 - here:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290217332116&ih=019&category=3860&ssPageName=STORE😛ROMOBOX:NEWLIST#LIST.
I cut an 18X30 mm piece of the .6 nd and mounted it on the front of the viewfinder. It works extremely well to increase the contrast on my QL17. Even though this will scratch easily, it is easy to replace with the added benefit that I can cut and use a piece of .15 or .3 if I want to do some low light shooting.
 
wray said:
Ruben, thank you for the great idea. I ordered 3 large sheets of neutral density gel filters- .15, .3, .6 - here:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290217332116&ih=019&category=3860&ssPageName=STORE😛ROMOBOX:NEWLIST#LIST.
I cut an 18X30 mm piece of the .6 nd and mounted it on the front of the viewfinder. It works extremely well to increase the contrast on my QL17. Even though this will scratch easily, it is easy to replace with the added benefit that I can cut and use a piece of .15 or .3 if I want to do some low light shooting.
Click to expand...

I saw the auction also offers yellow colored sheets, how would those work compared to the neutral density sheets?
 
wray said:
Ruben, thank you for the great idea. I ordered 3 large sheets of neutral density gel filters- .15, .3, .6 - here:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...y=3860&ssPageName=STORE:PROMOBOX:NEWLIST#LIST.
I cut an 18X30 mm piece of the .6 nd and mounted it on the front of the viewfinder. It works extremely well to increase the contrast on my QL17. Even though this will scratch easily, it is easy to replace with the added benefit that I can cut and use a piece of .15 or .3 if I want to do some low light shooting.
Click to expand...


Wray,
If you manage to insert the cut behind the external sude if the viefinder lens, immediately behind, you may both spare scratching and further improve viewfinder definition.

But for this , of course, you will have to open the top casting.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
Today my new toy came in mail. Blayk beauty Minolta HiMatic 7SII.

Lee filters that i got here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290187737691
were already here, waiting for camera to arrive.

Doing a quick "around the room" test showed that ND .6 (#210) works the best for RF patch, but I'd like to hear from other 7SII user who did "The Ruben Trick". Which one works best for you in all-round situations? What do you people use to attach the filter to the VF glass? Any comments welcome


Drazen
 
To whoever wants to try this on 7sII....
ND .6 (#210) is way to dark
ND .3 (#209) is too dark in evening low lit scenes and too contrasty
ND .15 (#298) works best for me. Just enough to see scale and patch much better while not being too dark.

Cut 21x12.5 mm piece and place it under front side viewfinder mask. Then secure it by sticking piece of Scotch Tape (or similar) on it's bottom. Mask will hold the filter by friction.

Drazen
 
ruben said:
...............

d and very important) The Lee Filter set was not my own idea, nor I know what they were actually designed for, and for the matter it doesn't matter, but raised by several friends at another thread, special mention to BrianShaw:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34519

..............
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Hi Folks,

This is no "Ruben's trick", nor it is a trick at all.

In general the ND3 is my choice. But the camera viewfider and patch should be cleaned beforehand. With care and dry cleaning preferently, unless you want to take some risks.

In my opinion, and it is no more than that, viewfinders have a deep capacity to be darkened and still offer us a good vision, even at night, altough not at absolute darkness.

What you can also do if you shoot a lot at night is to use the ND3 just for the yellow patch distance metering, and an additional viewfinder for composing.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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