FSU external viewfinder

[JT2007]

Hi!

I remember reading some time ago about a Soviet made external viewfinder with several framelines but can't find it anywhere. Now my question is what are the framelines of this external viewfinder? Is there one for 21mm? If so how easy will it be to get one considering I'm going to St. Petersburg in a while and also naturally willing to order from the internet.

Thanks!

 

[gmail.com]

This is the soviet viewfinder, made by KMZ. http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/universal/


It has frame lines and parallax correction for 28, 35, 50, 85 and 135mm.

 

[Nickfed]

It's called a turret finder. You will find them on eBay for about $50. It does not cover 21mm. There are individual fiunders for 35mm and 85mm. The former is an excellent finder, easy to find and quite cheap. There is also a finder for the 20mm Russar. It is not easy to find and not cheap. I understand it is a seriously good finder. I find you can do quite well using no finder with the 20mm. Just look over the top.

 

[dll927]

That turret finder comes in two versions -- respectively for Zorkis and for Kievs. The one for Zorkis has the bulk of its off-side turret to the left to avoid interference with the shutter speed dial on Zorkis. The model for Kievs favors the right side. It would appear that they originally made them 'right-handed', then discovered the problem with Zorkis and came up with a separate version for them.

It's probably doubtful if it really matters which one you use, especially on the Kievs. Some feel the turret finders are not terribly accurate for the longer lenses, but as often happens with FSU equipment, you may or may not have compatibility problems.

The same thing happens with many of the lenses -- they come in screw mount for Zorkis and bayonet for Kievs. In that case, they are NOT interchangeable. Lenses sold separately, for instance on evil-bay, will indicate which mount the lens fits.