Inexpensive 50mm external viewfinder

[portocar]

Hello

Where can I find an inexpensive 50mm external viewfinder I can attach to the hot/cold shoe of my camera?

can anyone tell me where to find them and how much i should expect to pay?

thanks

 

[Roger Hicks]

Rara avis. What do you call 'inexpensive'?

The Voigtländer Kontur is one of the cheapest, and if you get on with it (I do) one of the best. Google it.

Cheers,

R.

 

[batterytypehah!]

^ Our host has a very good introduction to the Kontur at http://www.cameraquest.com/voitvitl.htm (near bottom of page), as well as an overview of accessory finders in general at http://www.cameraquest.com/leicafin.htm.

Dedicated 50 finders aren't too common and are in demand from LTM users, since most of those have tiny built-in finders.

With some mental arithmetic, it's possible to use a tele-wide finder. These were made to go with accessory lenses for fixed-lens cameras. The Yashica, Petri and Helios are common. The "wide" frame is about a 35mm angle of view, not sure about the "tele" but hardly tighter than 65 or so, I would say. Ergo, you would use an imaginary 50 frame in between those two.

Finally, with even more imagination, and a bit of DIY, you could adapt an Instamatic accessory finder. Same idea as above, but Instamatic was a square format, so the framelines are square. They also don't have standard shoe mounts, hence the DIY aspect. I made one from a piece of aluminum bar filed to shape. The Kaligar finder I use cost next to nothing and probably has better optical quality than 99% of those crappy Instamatics it was made for.

 

[ray*j*gun]

I had a hell of a time finding one and I just recently received it in the mail. I had bought a Bessa T not knowing how tough it would be. Be patient and price will depend on mfg etc.

 

[Vickko]

Cheapest I ever found was $75 for user condition Leica brightline finders.

 

[portocar]

What is a good finder that has the 35mm and 50mm frames?

 

[rogerzilla]

Russian finders are fine. They don't have framelines but they are bright. I use a 35mm one on the M3 and I used to have one of the turret types, which was very accurate if a bit large.

 

[vrgard]

Rara avis. What do you call 'inexpensive'?

The Voigtländer Kontur is one of the cheapest, and if you get on with it (I do) one of the best. Google it.

Cheers,

R.

Another vote for the Kontur finder although I'm not sure it's any less expensive than a regular Leica 50mm finder. As a left eye dominant shooter I find the Kontur to be very useful.

 

[crawdiddy]

I have an Alpex Universal finder I bought for about $25. It covers 28mm to 135mm, and it's a zoom type. The build quality is good, and it's fairly bright. Has parallax compensation dial also.

 

[rumbliegeos]

I used both a Leitz VIOOH mutlifinder, and a Tewe zoom type multifinder, and then got a Voigtlander brightline copy of the Leitz original. Those brightline finders are very nice. I also use a Soviet 35mm finder that I got from Fedka, and it works fine. I also use 6X6 Kontur on a 120 folder, and as discussed that is a neat solution if your vision can accept the basic principle behind it.

 

[Muggins]

Necromancy, I know...

On the recommendation of this thread, I've just blown a whole £23.95 on a Kontur that I can use on my MDa - yet to get out with it to try it (hell, I'm buying accessories before I've even tested the camera, that's bad GAS!) , but as far as I can tell I'm going to have no trouble with it. It also really freaks out those friends I have left after playing the schadenfreude trick with a Werra.

Thank you everyone, especially Roger for suggesting it first.

Adrian

 

[Rob-F]

I've been using the Leitz chrome metal finder. It's the one in my avatar. Not bad, but I notice it has not got the correct aspect ratio for a Leica! It looks more like 5:4, or maybe 4:3. Strange! I've wondered how that ever happened.