OKARO Filters?

[chris00nj]

Tom,

Ever consider making OKARO filters for screwmount rangefinders?

I think there would be a good market for people looking to improve rangefinder contrast. The few that are out there sell for $70-$100 at dealers.

Seems like they should be low cost to make, and at $30-$35 or so, they should sell well.

 

[elmer3.5]

Hi, i had that problem on a III-F poor contrast, once i looked for one orako and okaro, but wouldn´t wait for it to arrive (i´m in chile)
So i took apart the red window from an old broken 6x9 camera and fitted in the RF window of my III-F. The left one.

Complete success!

The old 6x9 window was made of good quality material and was pristine, it just worked perfectly and never took it away.

With a III-G i tried to make the same but never got the same quality red trasnparent film and used other stuff but never worked it out.
So it´s very important to use high quality materials, that will do.

Bye.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Tom,

Ever consider making OKARO filters for screwmount rangefinders?

I think there would be a good market for people looking to improve rangefinder contrast. The few that are out there sell for $70-$100 at dealers.

Seems like they should be low cost to make, and at $30-$35 or so, they should sell well.

Bump I would be interested in an inexpensive but functional RF filter. It worked well on my Nikon S3

 

[hexiplex]

Another bump and another interested RFFer.

 

[n5jrn]

That definitely sounds like something I could be interested in if the price was reasonable.

 

[Tom A]

The problem is making the ring for the filter. It has to be machined in either brass or stainless steel and you have to make an interior thread and get the glass cut to size and installed. Neither of which is cheap and simple!!!!
I have used red and blue gel-filters for this instead. Undo the ring around the finder - cut the gel-filter to fit and stick it on. Works well - and is considerably cheaper than making the whole thing from scratch. Depending on the amount of "fade" with the rangefinder patch - you can use different "density" of filtration.
Lee Filters used to make a "sample" package of filters (about 1.5 x 3") and they gave all the transmission values too. They used to give them away - but I think they charge a couple of bucks for the package. Great system as you could experiment with various colors and densities to see what worked.

 

[Luddite Frank]

The problem is making the ring for the filter. It has to be machined in either brass or stainless steel and you have to make an interior thread and get the glass cut to size and installed. Neither of which is cheap and simple!!!!
I have used red and blue gel-filters for this instead. Undo the ring around the finder - cut the gel-filter to fit and stick it on. Works well - and is considerably cheaper than making the whole thing from scratch. Depending on the amount of "fade" with the rangefinder patch - you can use different "density" of filtration.
Lee Filters used to make a "sample" package of filters (about 1.5 x 3") and they gave all the transmission values too. They used to give them away - but I think they charge a couple of bucks for the package. Great system as you could experiment with various colors and densities to see what worked.

I did this with a couple of my Barnacks, using Roscolux R-22 or 23 ( one of the saturated Ambers )... cut a little "dot" of it just large enough to catch inside the rim of the RF window nearest the wind-on knob.

If you are cozy with a local theatre company or college / university theatre dept, they would probably happily give you all the gel-trimmings you could want... there's always waste !
And a couple hundred colors / shades to choose from.

I will NOT pay $70-$100 for the genuine little Leitz filter...