Leica M8 External Viewfinders

[portocar]

There are an overwhelming of External viewfinders for the M8. The 21/24/28 seems to be quite parctical. However, when I spoke to someone about using it witht he Leica 21mm lens, i was told that the Zeiss External viewfinder would be britgher.

Therefore, I would love to hear everyones opinions regarding the different External viewfinders; their strenghts and weaknesses.

Thanks

 

[Ronald M]

The 21/24/28 is marginal as a nice finder. Bright enough, but no brightline frames so you use the edge of the window. Seems easy, but the edge moves if your eye is not centered and you see around the corner so to speak. Worst thing Leica I ever bought.

I kept my metal brightlines for 21/28. Bright with frame lines and no quessing, although a bit of barrel distortion.

The plastic ones that came after are the best optically, but the plastic feet break, poor for a $300 finder.

That leaves the current Zeiss or some other brand from way back when, none of which were remarkable.

Best new product is the Zeiss. Assess the construction yourself.

Now you know why old Leitz 21 and 28 metals go for $400.

 

[Tony C.]

That leaves the current Zeiss or some other brand from way back when, none of which were remarkable.

With due respect to Ronald, the current Zeiss finder is remarkable. It's the best I've ever used, and Sean Reid has agreed with me on a previous, similar thread. Yes, it's expensive, but if you want the best available, I'd recommend it highly.

Regards,

Tony C.

 

[Sailor Ted]

T Man,
I believe Ronald M was agreeing that the Zeiss finder is the best around- better then the older Leica finders if I read his post correctly.

T

 

[portocar]

What about the new Leica universal wide-angle viewfinder?

 

[Sailor Ted]

If I may throw my hat into this ring, I purchased a "D" version of the 21mm CV plastic finder for my then brand new R-D1s for a trip to Hong Kong last November. During that trip the plastic foot broke. I have no recourse for a new finder so I will always opt for more expensive metal-based finders in the future.

 

[MP Guy]

Try the Richo 21/28 used on the GR. It is really bright, has frame lines and is very small.

 

[Sailor Ted]

Jorge,
Does that finder not have a plastic base like the cheap CV finders?

 

[BerndReini]

🙂 The 21-24-28 finder is absolutely terrible. I bought it and returned it after two days in exchange for a Zeiss 21 finder. You will be more accurate guessing the frame than looking through the Leica variable finder. I am not exaggerating, I could not duplicate the same frame twice with this finder, I'm talking cropped heads etc.
The Zeiss finder on the other hand makes the world look more beautiful than it is. I wish they could make me a pair of glasse out of two of them.

 

[Andy Aitken]

The Ricoh 21/28 finder is nice and bright with good framelines BUT it is offset a little to the right which makes it hang over the shutter speed dial. This makes it pretty useless on the M's with small shutter dials but it's not too bad on the M8. It would be a good choice for those wanting to use a CV15mm and a 21mm on an M8. It is plastic but it seems tougher than the plastic CV finders. In theory the frames should be slightly too "square" for the M8 or 35mm but the difference is pretty tiny.

 

[HenningW]

If I may throw my hat into this ring, I purchased a "D" version of the 21mm CV plastic finder for my then brand new R-D1s for a trip to Hong Kong last November. During that trip the plastic foot broke. I have no recourse for a new finder so I will always opt for more expensive metal-based finders in the future.

This is a bit like the foot for the Vivitar 283 flash which sold in the millions. It had a plastic foot that could break off with a decent whack on the flash. So some aftermarket wizards brought out a very nice metal foot as a replacement. A while after that reports started circulating about people tearing the hot shoe plus prism housings off their SLR's. Plastic feet became more popular again.

I've gone through quite a few finders. I think over the years I must have had about 6 or 8 21mm and 28mm metal finders. Most of them died from slipping out (being pushed) and falling on concrete. The plastic ones bounce. I started putting little 'cap keeper' lanyards on them, especially when I got the 15mm Hologon with its large and hard to replace finder.

I now have various CV finders and Leica, both metal and plastic single focal length finders. The ones I like best are the plastic Leica finders. They don't slip out of the shoes, and are very nice optically. The CV finders are decent, but the plastic ones are higher off the top plate than the Leica ones, and generally show a narrower angle than the Leica ones. The little metal 28/35 is especially poor in this regard, as the 28mm outline is probably about 32mm.

In any case, I'd rather the foot broke off the finder than the top plate getting bent, and probably messing up the rangefinder. Best would be an easily replaceable plastic foot.

The Zeiss finders are very nice, but I've not compared the angles of view to what you actually get. Also, they are too large for my liking, and also of course quite expensive.

The 21/24/28 finder is terrible, and the new vario finder look like an abomination. Maybe it works well, but it sure is ugly. I guess we'll see when they start shipping it.

Henning

 

[Grober]

I'm rapidly shifting from film to digital (M7-to-M8) as I learn this thing called, digital workflow. I'll keep my Leica 21mm finder for use with a 15mm lens I'll buy down the road. (I'm waiting on buying a 15mm lens until I get a chance to see the ZM 18/4 in April after its officially announced.)

When shooting the M8 with the 21mm Elmarit, I now use the Zeiss 25/28 viewfinder. I owned the CV plastic 28 finder but decided that though the Zeiss v/f is fabulously expensive (by comparison) it's also worth every penny. I quickly sold my plastic CV finder and have been very happy with the Zeiss. I hear the metal CV finder is great but I haven't handled it.

I'm generally against multiple focal length viewfinders just because of their inherent complexity not to mention the gigantic size of the new Leica one for its wide angle Tri-Elmar. I don't care how wonderful it might be; it's way to large for me.

-g

 

[gerasdoc]

What about Voightlander 28 metal Brightline finder. Can anyone comment on this newer finder?

 

[Rico]

My Leitz metal finders seem secure, but I do like Henning's lanyard idea. 🙂 I'm willing to let the top deck of an M to take a hit, rather than bust a plastic foot. The CZ finders worry me because their square profile invites snagging - likewise for SBLOO, SLOOZ, and SBKOO. For its round profile and metal build, the CV 28 looks like a winner. Which way to External Viewfinder Anonymous? 🙂

 

[afineman]

has anyone come up with a good solution to using off camera flash with an external finder? and not getting too much paralax?

 

[scho]

I have the CV 28/35 mini finder, but I can't get it into the M8 flashshoe. Very tight and I don't want to force it. Anyone else had this problem?

 

[jaapv]

Wipe a soft pencil along the edge.

 

[afineman]

Does anyone have any of the Leica Plastic BL finders with the shoes broken off? I have an experiment that I would like to do and need a couple of those finders without shoes (21 & 28mm) to do the experiment.
-Aaron Lee Fineman

 

[StuartR]

I use the Zeiss finders 21 and 25/8 which I bought with my biogons. They are superb...by far the best external finders out there. That said, I have used the voigtlander ones as well and never had a problem. It's not like the plastic ones spontaneously combust...just don't try to wrench them out (make sure you push them directly backwards out of the shoe, don't pull up on them when you are taking them out). Try not to store the camera with a finder on it unless you are just going to take it out again in a minute or two. I would say the truly important difference between the Zeiss and the other finders is distortion -- the Zeiss doesn't have it, the Leica vario-finder and the Cosina finders do have it. Anyway, that's just my take from having used them all. As for the new Leica multi-finder, I imagine that it will be excellent optically. I didn't realize just how big it really is though. There was a picture of it from photokina on a camera, and it looked like someone had glued a cell-phone on top of the camera. It is at least double the size of the old MR and MC meters. It really is huge.

 

[StuartR]

Here's a picture of the monster in action: