Composing photos with a rangefinder.

[Stratman]

Hello all, I am new here. Seems like a great place to learn !

My father has several old rangefinders, a Petri 1.9, Kodak Retina IIa, Kodak Retina Automatic III, and a Minolta A.

I took the Petri out over the weekend and shot a roll of film through it, and everything seems to be functioning well. I used an old Kalimar light meter, and exposures were pretty much spot on.

My question is regarding composing through the viewfinder. It seems that what you see in the VF is not exactly what you will see on the final image. Do you see MORE in the viewfinder than will be on the final image? Here is an example of the viewfinder "lying" 😀

As you can see, the chimney is cut off in the image, but It wasn't when I was composing the shot. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I am fascinated with these old gems!!

 

[le vrai rdu]

you see what you get focusing at about 3 meters 😀 the house is farther so you should have more stuff on the picture than in our vf

in fact you are wrong, I am sure that on the neg there is the chimney and more, but scanners are prone to cropping pictures :/

so look at your neg 😉

 

[rogue_designer]

Rangefinders are great for composing moments. But not as much for precision framing. Give yourself some leeway. I always err on the side of assuming something will be slightly cut off.

It does vary with distance, parralax, and specific camera/type of viewfinder. Even from year to year (Leica framelines have adjusted a bit, so a 50mm frameline on a new camera would be slightly different than the 50mm frameline on a 30 year old camera).

Precise framing is the purvey of view cameras and SLRS. IMO.

 

[Al Kaplan]

First check the negative. This might just be a case of the printer at the lab not printing the entire negatve or not lining it up correctly. Usually the viewfinder shows a bit less than what you get on film. At close distances parallax becomes a concern. The lens isn't in the same place as the viewfinder and sees things from a little different angle. That often results in cut-off heads (or chimnies). Some cameras have frame lines in the finder, and sometimes these are designed to move and compensate. You need to shoot a few rolls and learn your camera.

 

[bolohead]

Are the framelines showing up in the Petri viewfinder? My Petri 2.8 has yellow framelines which make the frame about 75% of the entire viewfinder. Not sure if the 1.9 is the same.

 

[Stratman]

Are the framelines showing up in the Petri viewfinder? My Petri 2.8 has yellow framelines which make the frame about 75% of the entire viewfinder. Not sure if the 1.9 is the same.

Ahhhhhhh!!, so the yellow "frame" is what should appear in the photo? Hmmmm, if that is the case, then that is my problem !! I did check the negatives, and they looked exactly like the prints, and digital files I have on the CD.

Thank you very much !!

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Retina IIa

Retina IIa

Hang onto that Kodak Retina IIa - they're one of the most compact 35mm folders around and the lenses are superb!

 

[Stratman]

Hang onto that Kodak Retina IIa - they're one of the most compact 35mm folders around and the lenses are superb!

I plan on running a roll through it soon too, everything seems to be working on it , except the focus seems to be off. I was focusing on something about 7 feet away, and the distance on the lens said 4 feet, so I'll just shoot at infinity, and see how things turn out.