Guess: Which camera has the brightest viewfinder?

[MRohlfing]

The results

The results

OK, here are the results:

I measured against a white wall that had EV 7.5

Here's the EV measured through the viewfinders:

Rangefinders:
4.6 Zeiss Ikon ZM
4.5 Bessa R3A
4.4 Olympus XA
4.3 Vitomatic II
4.2 Leica M2
3.9 Olympus 35 RC
3.2 Yashica GSN

Simple viewfinders:
5.7 Voigtländer Acc. finder 25mm
5.2 Olympus Stylus Epic / mju-II
5.1 Leica II f (I know it is a rangefinder, but it has separate windows)
4.8 Nikonos IV-A
4.6 Leica Minilux
3.4 Agfa Optima

SLRs:
4.1 Nikon F3 HP *
4.0 Nikon F100
3.8 Nikon F with the small prism
3.4 Bronica ETRS AE-Prism III *
3.3 Nikon F2 AS Photomic

* with Beattie Intenscreen
All Nikons with the 50/1.4, the Bronica with 75/2.8

So, the "overall winner" would be the Voigtländer accessory finder, and the brightest rangefinder the ZM.

The majority of you got it quite right! Did anyone cheat and make his own measurements?

 

[luketrash]

Interesting.

I'll admit that I'm a fan of these nonscientific studies moreso than the typical resolution charts and theoretical numbers about lenses and camera equipment.

Honestly, your results are more useful to me in the real world than legitimate scientific data.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I'm shocked that the Minilux 'beat' the F100, let alone by so great a margin.

 

[raid]

Great. I like such an approach to equipment comparisons. Thanks for doing the work. The results are very useful.

 

[Avotius]

A great way to compare finders in different cameras! Thanks for that information, makes me a little more confident that I made the right choice in buying the voigtlander 21mm finder instead of the zeiss one for my new zeiss 21mm lens, now I cant wait for it to arrive.

 

[mh2000]

my guess is that the XA is brighter than the M2 because the focus patch on the XA is almost non-existent.

🙂

 

[BillBingham2]

A very cool experiment, thanks.

I have to say I'm shocked at the Nikon F2AS is so low, my favorite SLR ever.

The brightness of my CV 28 Metal finder is one of the reasons it sits on my GR-D all the time.

Thanks again.

B2 (;->

 

[Igor.Burshteyn]

very interesting! what about making this info user editable - photodo style? many RFF-ers have spot meters and many more cameras 🙂 I have pentax spot meter and it would be interesting to see how OM1, OM4ti with 2-13 screen, 35SP stack against others 🙂 I'd measure in %% like MTF - say 4.5ev of 7.5ev would make 60% 😉

 

[rxmd]

I have to say I'm shocked at the Nikon F2AS is so low, my favorite SLR ever.

I'm not.

Firstly, SLR finder brightness is difficult to compare with rangefinders because you measure through a matte screen.

Secondly, SLR finder accuracy is determined by the matte-ness of the screen; roughly speaking, the more transparent the screen is, the more your eye is tempted to focus on the image directly rather than on its projection on the screen, and so things look like they're in focus but actually aren't. That's why the new autofocus-optimised DSLR screens can afford to look really bright, but make it difficult to "see" focus manually. So the principle of an SLR finder already makes it difficult to compare.

Thirdly, the F2's metering system is in the prism, which makes it more difficult to realise it with little light loss (as opposed to in-body metering where it's usually diverted from the mirror). Put an unmetered prism in there and the image will be (a little) brighter.

And fourthly, the focusing screens in the old F2s are quite old technology-wise. Put in a laser matte screen (Beattie or otherwise) and your image will become brighter by a stop, while not impeding focusing.

So this is all pretty understandable. It's a great camera nonetheless, with a great finder. I had one given to me by a photographer friend back in Uzbekistan for some time and have taken some of the best pictures of my life with it - with a 24 on it it's the most natural feeling I ever got out of any camera. If anyone offered a F2AS to me at a reasonable price, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[Sparrow]

So the results show the Olympus mju is brighter than a r3a, I’m not convinced, sorry that just isn’t what I see

 

[Svitantti]

Sports finders are bright 😉

25mm VC finder is also very bright, kind of looks like brighter than without any finder 🙂. So it probably should've won.

I dont understand how such poll would be more useful than a test where you actually find out something. How could this be useful at all when people just click a random vote? Would you choose your camera on basis of this? Do you trust this vote result?

 

[raid]

Sports finders are bright 😉

25mm VC finder is also very bright, kind of looks like brighter than without any finder 🙂. So it probably should've won.

I dont understand how such poll would be more useful than a test where you actually find out something. How could this be useful at all when people just click a random vote? Would you choose your camera on basis of this? Do you trust this vote result?

The poll is there for fun [I assume], and the test was done wih the results posted here.

 

[noimmunity]

Interesting to me is the virtual parity of the R3A and the ZI finder. Subjectively it seems to me the ZI is brighter, but I wonder if this isn't due to the color cast of the R3A finder?

 

[MRohlfing]

The poll is there for fun [I assume], and the test was done wih the results posted here.

Yes, the poll was for fun.

And I hope no one here will buy a camera based on my test results alone!

Interesting to me is the virtual parity of the R3A and the ZI finder. Subjectively it seems to me the ZI is brighter, but I wonder if this isn't due to the color cast of the R3A finder?

Subjectively i have the same impression, but my meter says I am wrong.

Also, subjectively I did not see the light loss of even the brightest finder, the Voigtländer 25mm: 5.7 versus 7.5 - that's a light loss of almost 2 stops!! So the conclusion must be that the only really useable finder is one of these sport finders without glass! 😀