Finders

[dll927]

Am I correct in assuming that accessory finders, including "universal" ones for 28-135mm, are pretty much interchangeable as far as cameras go? That is, do they work the same for Zorkis as for Kievs? The accessory shoes should be the same.
I have both brands of camera, so will one finder fit all and work equally well?

 

[taffer]

Hmmm, as far as I know, Zorki/Fed and Kiev turret finders are different in the left/right placement of the turret with respect to the acc shoe. If I'm not wrong that was mainly made that way to make access to the shutter speed dial easier on Feds and Zorkis...

 

[matu]

I have a Leica universal finder (use it with my zorki), my concern is about parallax correction, the distance between the acc shoe and the lense may vary.
It will still be accurate?

 

[Roman]

Frankly, the parallax correction on the Russian universal finder is a very bad joke...
The finder is cheap, compact, and gives nice clear big images, but forget about accurately framing shots with a 85mm or even 135mm lens, it is almost impossible at portrait distances, only works with landscape-type shots, and with the 35mm and 28mm settings (and I had tried the finder on different bodies, from low-profile FED2 and Kiev 4 to higher FED5 or Zorki 4, and that difference is negligible with regard to the inaccuracy of the finder). That's what finally made me get a Bessa R (and I never looked back and only use the Russians now with 50 and 35mm lenses).

Roman

 

[kbg32]

Any brand finder can be used with any brand lens of the same proper focal length. Contax with Leica, Zorki with Contax, etc..

 

[peter_n]

I have a Leica universal finder (use it with my zorki), my concern is about parallax correction, the distance between the acc shoe and the lense may vary.
It will still be accurate?

Pablo I have not seen the Leica finder but I will describe mine - it is made by Optimus of Germany. At the back end of the finder barrel is a distance scale that rotates. As you rotate the scale the finder angle changes with respect to the shoe. So the Optimus brand at least has a fairly sophisticated parallax correction mechanism.

It also has diopter correction built-in from -4 to +4 in increments of 2. I have no idea whether Optimus is a good, bad or indifferent brand but it was cheap on eBay.

 

[matu]

Peter I have not got mine with me, the one I have it has parallax correction, but lacks from the diopter correction, the odd thing is that the barrel of the viewfinder can be rotated and the image within rotates with it, the other strange thing is that image behaves like in TLR viefinders.
When I get near it ill post an image.

Pablo

I believe it's a Leica Vidom Viewfinder at *bay there is one similar to mine
Item number: 3873034360

 

[peter_n]

Pablo no need to post a pic - I have a VIDOM too - I use it upside down 🙂. I thought you meant a turret viewfinder (my Optimus is a turret).

There is a parallax correction wheel at the back of the shoe on a VIDOM, mine is calibrated in feet and goes from infinity to a little under 3.5 feet - about 1 metre.

 

[sockeyed]

I have the dedicated 35mm and 85mm russian viewfinders and find them acceptable-to-good. The 35 is nice and bright, the 85 is a little squinty. My guess is that they work better than the universal turrets.