Guess: Which camera has the brightest viewfinder?

[MRohlfing]

I have tried to measure the brightness of the viewfinder of my cameras with a spotmeter.

Have a guess: Which one has the brightest viewfinder?

I will post the results here after closing the poll in three days.

 

[martin s]

Seriously? Guess? Imagine everyone would spread information that way.

martin

 

[sevo]

Either Epic or Nikonos, as these are non-rangefinders, and hence don't lose light to the pellicle mirror (at least 40%).

Sevo

 

[laptoprob]

non-rangefinder

Yep, must be a non- rangefinder, so just a finder. It might well be the Voigtlander acc. viewfinder. Hard to tell, I don't know most of the contenders hands-on.

 

[MRohlfing]

Yes, please guess!

These are my cameras, the older ones might have a little dirt in the finder, so I don't say my results will be valid for your camera.

Not all of them are rangefinders, and I will post the results for a few SLRs, too.

Measuring was not easy with some of the cameras, so there might be some errors in the results. Where possible, I checked with a Gossen Profisix and got a similar result, so I should not be to far off, either.

Of course I am not saying that the brightest viewfinder is the best viewfinder!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Well, the easiest way to get more brightness is with a smaller viewfinder magnification. So this is a REALLY MEANINGFUL quiz. Quite apart from the fact that a spotmeter does't take much account of the exit pupil or eye relief, even if you check with a Profisix afterwards.

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[mh2000]

Stylus Epic????? You gotta be joking, have you ever looked through one? It's like the tiniest darkest thing ever... still a nice little camera, but dang!

Either Epic or Nikonos, as these are non-rangefinders, and hence don't lose light to the pellicle mirror (at least 40%).

Sevo

 

[sevo]

The one on my mju:II was bright but unusually tiny, thanks to its magnification (or rather minimification - it looked as if well below 0.5). But YMMV, there were several mju/Epics - the zoom finders were pathetic, and I don't know about the finder on the first, or any variations of the finder eyepoint by region or time.

 

[Merkin]

My vote was for the 25mm accessory viewfinder. I don't have this particular one, but I have a 90mm accessory viewfinder, and i was shocked at how bright it was.

 

[BillBingham2]

Very cool idea. I have placed my bet, but would have preferred to see a CV 28 Metal in the mix. I love that thing!

B2 (;->

 

[fbf]

I would vote for zi all the way. I never used one but held one in the store last year.Boy, i still remember the moment i was quite shocked by the brightness of the vf.
Talking about the size of the finder, olympus om SLR all the way. It is HUGE. Okay, please don't throw medium format SLR into the play...

 

[splitimageview]

OK, the SP wins bright frameline contest. And most colorful, too.

 

[nuckabean]

I'm not sure if it counts because it's medium format but I am amazed everytime I look through the RF of my Mamiya 7. Sometimes I think it's brighter than looking without it.

 

[mh2000]

Mine is the Sylus Epic which I think is the same as the mju-II... this size of the optic which light enters the VF is about the size of a small match head... still like the camera... and the Contax G1 is really no better...

The one on my mju:II was bright but unusually tiny, thanks to its magnification (or rather minimification - it looked as if well below 0.5). But YMMV, there were several mju/Epics - the zoom finders were pathetic, and I don't know about the finder on the first, or any variations of the finder eyepoint by region or time.

 

[Chris101]

I have a 'sport finder' for my Mamiya. It's just a wire frame with a circle behind it, to look through. There is no glass, so it's got to be as bright as it gets. Of course, an electronic view finder can magnify the available light, so then they would be brighter than that.

I am not familiar with the finder on all those cameras, but I have heard that the Zeiss Ikon has a bright finder, so maybe that's it. You did, after all, list that one first.

 

[35mmdelux]

My Hasselblad with a sportsfinder.

 

[Debusti Paolo]

maybe my bronica rf 645??

 

[mfogiel]

It is obviously confusing to put a VF camera next to a simple finder - try to look through one of the Zeiss external viewfinders...

 

[MRohlfing]

It is obviously confusing to put a VF camera next to a simple finder - try to look through one of the Zeiss external viewfinders...

OK, I will post the results in groups like: Simple viewfinders, rangefinders, SLRs...

And though a simple finder might be brighter than a rangefinder (?), i will prefer a rangefinder anytime!

 

[MRohlfing]

Stylus Epic????? You gotta be joking, have you ever looked through one? It's like the tiniest darkest thing ever... still a nice little camera, but dang!

Talking about SMALL viewfinders: If you call the finder of the Epic tiny, you have never looked through the finder of a Leica Minilux...