Letters on bottom of External Finders

[Timmyjoe]

Doing a search on the forums, can't find this covered. No luck with Google either.

Looking for an external finder for my Nikon S2 when using the 3.5cm lens. In my search I keep coming across Nippon Kogaku external finders with letters on the bottom of them. See below.

Was thinking the "C" may stand for Contax, and the "L" may stand for Leica, and figured the reason they are labeled is that maybe the relationship between the cold shoe and the center of the lens mount is different between Nikon, Contax, and Leica, therefore the viewfinders may be optically different. But, especially with Contax, the cold shoe/lens centerline, is all over the map between different Contax rangefinders. And I'm not sure the cold shoe/lens centerline is consistent across all Nikon rangefinders, and the same for Leica rangefinders.

Is there some other reason for the letters on the bottom of the Nippon Kogaku external viewfinders? And can anyone shed some light on the whole external viewfinder relationship to the cold shoe/lens centerline issue?

And to clarify, when I'm referring to the letters on the bottom of the finder, I am not referring to the EP, which I know means the items were sold on American Military Bases at the PX and not meant for sale to non military personnel. I am referring to the "C" and the "L" engraved on the bottom of these two finders.

Thanks for any and all info.

Best,
-Tim

 

[css9450]

Wow! If there are different finders for Nikon, Contax and LTM cameras, than I am doing it wrong! I use the same plastic KMZ Russian viewfinder on everything. Even my Leica CL.

 

[Timmyjoe]

That's what I always thought, but then when I look at my Barnack, from the rear of the camera, the cold shoe is to the right of the lens centerline. On my Nikon S2, from the rear of the camera, the cold shoe is on the left of the lens centerline. It would make sense, that if you're putting an external finder on the camera to see what the lens is actually seeing, that you would need to take the whole cold shoe/lens centerline relationship into consideration. But maybe I'm wrong.

Best,
-Tim

 

[David Hughes]

That's what I always thought, but then when I look at my Barnack, from the rear of the camera, the cold shoe is to the right of the lens centerline. On my Nikon S2, from the rear of the camera, the cold shoe is on the left of the lens centerline. It would make sense, that if you're putting an external finder on the camera to see what the lens is actually seeing, that you would need to take the whole cold shoe/lens centerline relationship into consideration. But maybe I'm wrong.

Best,
-Tim

Hi,

No, you are not wrong; that's exactly what KMZ did with their version of the old Contax universal finder. You get left and right versions of it for the Kiev and FED (or Contax and Leica), or the other way round...

Regards, David

 

[sepiareverb]

Center, Left and Right perhaps?

 

[farlymac]

My Nippon Kogaku Japan 35mm finder has no letter on the bottom. But I would think that if the lettering was meant to differentiate between the Contax, Nikon, and Leica Nikkors, that would have been mentioned somewhere in all the literature I've read, and forums I've been on. This is the first mention of the letters I've come across. I've also never seen reference to the finders being prismatic, which they would have to be to compensate for centerline differences. Either that, or mounted at an angle to the foot, which doesn't make sense since the foot can move within the shoe, negating any advantage there.

However, looking at your photos, and the bottom of my finder, there is a difference in the shape of the feet, which would stand to reason since the manufacturers have their own designs of accessory shoes.

PF

 

[Timmyjoe]

Hey PF,

I'm starting to think that might be it. As I look at the different pics, the foot is definitely different shaped between them. Never realized the cold shoe design is unique to each camera brand, but I guess it is.

Best,
-Tim

 

[farlymac]

Hey PF,

I'm starting to think that might be it. As I look at the different pics, the foot is definitely different shaped between them. Never realized the cold shoe design is unique to each camera brand, but I guess it is.

Best,
-Tim

Yeah, I've had accessories that fit snugly on one camera, and almost fall out of another camera shoe. It took a long time before all that got standardized.

PF

 

[Livesteamer]

This thread made me curious so I found the two early Nikon finders I have, a 2.8 cm and a 13.5cm. Both have a foot that is identical to the 13.5cm finder shown above with one exception. The 2.8cm finder has the L and <EP> makings as shown on the 3.5 cm finder above. I suspect Nikon did make different feet for the finders with the Leica design as the default finder foot. Sadly, I wear glasses and neither finder works well with my eyes. I use Voigtlander finders for my 28 and 35 lens's and I rarely use a 135. Joe

Correction. My 2.8cm finder has the L and <EP> markings as in the 13.5 finder above.

 

[enasniearth]

finders

finders

the L and the C marks are for leica and contax

the C finder has a unique foot that fits the accessory shoe on a contax rf camera , the front with the half circle cutout sits around a pin in the front of the shoe , if I remember correctly its smaller than the nikon rf flash contact , if you put this on a nikon it sits pretty far off the back of the camera than a regular unmarked nikon s type

the L finder I've noticed has a narrower foot , if you put a regular nikon s type on a leica screw mount it goes in fairly tight , the 3.5cm bright line was very hard to remove after I used it on a leica IIIc , some times you see regular nikon finders that the side of the foot has been filed to fit leica screw mount . the nikon finders seem ok in leica m shoes.