Canon 85mm finder - help

[traveler_101]

I am thinking of bidding on a finder on E-Bay--closing bids due soon. Anyone have idea why this finder appears to have a white rectangle blocking the view (see photos)? It's a Canon 85mm. Looks nice but I can't make heads or tails of it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-85MM-FIND...ers_Eyecups&hash=item3a69209c62#ht_7132wt_954

 

[John Shriver]

That's absolutely normal for the Albada finders of Canon's later rangefinder period. The 35mm to 135mm bright line finders are of that type. (The black and chrome 28mm finder remained a Galilean.)

Note that the finder in that auction is only suitable for a Canon V or VI series camera, with the automatic parallax correction. See the ball in the foot. It will aim way too low on any other camera, unless you get the very very rare adapter shoe for it.

 

[airds]

Pretty pricey on the postage at USD30 - why are US postal charges overseas so expensive lately? Jiri is USD10 less for a P body & only US $7.50 for it's meter - and usually arrives quicker .....

 

[peterm1]

It does look odd but I think it may be simply caused by the fact that the photo is taken from a distance further away than the normal eye relief distance. Unlike the multi focal finders I these do not have any prisms that could come adrift to account for this. I second the point made about the late model finders with automatic parallax adjustment - I bought a Canon multifocal finder - only to discover I could not use it for that reason. There is a small pin that pokes up through the bottom of the accessory shoe of the later model Canon cameras. This moves up and down as the lens is focused to bring the finder into the correct vertical adjustment. With any other camera the finder is "floppy" rather like the words of a rude old limerick - "loose in the middle like a one string fiddle."

 

[Vickko]

Boy am I sure glad that I didn't win it.

I wanted an 85mm finder for my Leica Summarex and someone else got it in the end.

I didn't know about the focus parallax thing.

Vick

 

[Bill58]

Pretty pricey on the postage at USD30 - why are US postal charges overseas so expensive lately? Jiri is USD10 less for a P body & only US $7.50 for it's meter - and usually arrives quicker .....

The US postal system is billions of $ in debt.

BTW-I use the modern CV 90 VF w/ my 85mm. It's bright, clear and has framelines.

 

[peterm1]

The US postal system is billions of $ in debt.

I seldom buy much from the US now days because the postage costs are usually so high on eBay. Not sure if its geedy vendors or greedy andinefficent postal services. It used to be the case only a couple of years ago that when buying say a nikon prime lens of the 35-50mm size and weight it cost around $20 to get it to Australia. Now most vendors quote more than double this. I have found small items like viewfinders / filters to be worse. I have had cases where a vendor wants over $20 to post a $10 filter. Aint gunna happen!

As to this item. If you really need an 85mm finder try the little early silver chrome tube finder that Canon made. Its a bit pockey and hard to see through but it works and is cheaper than the later models.

 

[Nokton48]

Yeah I would have liked to get it, it would work nicely on VT, but I dropped out at about $55.

I did win the 25mm F3.5, however, and it's on it's way.

 

[goamules]

I seldom buy much from the US now days because the postage costs are usually so high on eBay. Not sure if its geedy vendors or greedy andinefficent postal services. It used to be the case only a couple of years ago that when buying say a nikon prime lens of the 35-50mm size and weight it cost around $20 to get it to Australia. Now most vendors quote more than double this.

Two factors at work here: inflation and Ebay. It's not usually "greedy vendors", though I agree some are out there. The US Postal rates have gone up, up, up over the past couple years. The size of their flat rate boxes has gotten smaller, what used to be a "small" is not priced as "medium".

But when I was in Europe this summer and told people I could ship several pounds (lbs) of weight within the US for under $5 (flat rate) or $8 in any size box, they were amazed. That's for Priority, 2-3 day shipping. First class is cheaper, but slower. They all said "I wish our shipping over here was as cheap as in the US."

So I wonder why I can ship cheap in the US, but it goes way up when outside the US? Does the US Postal service "work" over there, or does it get handed off to your EU system, which costs more? I can ship 2 lbs to our neighbors on this continent (Canada, Mexico) for about $9. How much to ship from Austria to say, Italy?