SLR or RF for portrait, 75mm - 90mm lenses?

[nihraguk]

Hi everybody,

I'm currently in the midst of restructing my camera and lens collection, and need some advice. In your experience, would you recommend using an SLR or a RF to take portrait shots at the 75mm - 90mm focal length? I'm referring to all sorts of portait shots, including informal ones taken on the street or at gatherings, not just the formal, studio type.

I understand that using an RF with a lens at 75mm/90mm means that your intended shot doesn't fill up the entire frame; one uses a smaller set of framelines at the center of the VF window to compose the shot. Is this a problem? Would it be far more suitable and convenient to always rely on an SLR for such shots, so that you don't have to strain and squint to figure out what comes within the 75mm framelines and what doesn't?

My inclination is to purchase a Bessa R and a CV 75mm or perhaps some other portrait lens in LTM. But the above consideration is holding me back. Any advice? I also own a Mamiya M645 Pro, and could spend the money on a 110mm portrait lens for that beast instead. But the portability and handholding issues are holding me back re the Mamiya, as well as the fact that it is a lot more noisy and less discreet.

 

[boarini2003]

I think that for portraits it is better to use and SLR, since you eliminate parallax error, which is precisely a rangefinder's drawback for that type of shot.

 

[Lemures-Ex]

Parallax is well compensated for on any half decent rangefinder. With a 90mm lens you are not getting close enough for any existing parallax errors to come into play. Of course, this is assuming your rangefinder is adjusted properly.

The SLR will probably be better for studio type photos where you have a good solid tripod and time to focus accurately. A RF will be better for candid street portraits and the like.

Borrow a RF if you can (or buy a Russian leica clone. they're cheap) and see what you like better.

Jared

 

[pvdhaar]

There's parallax, and then there's shrinking field of view when focussing closer. I've used a CV90 on a 0.6x finder in a HexarRF, and in the end, it wasn't my cup of tea. The framing remains problematic, even in the presence of parallax compensation, because of varying field of view throughout the focus range. I can imagine the R being a bit better (0.7x finder), but I'd still be hesitant. The 75mm frames though, were really good. At least in my opinion they were. The 15% larger finder mag in the Bessa R will only make things better. I'd say with an 0.7x finder, that 75mm is your best bet..

 

[sleepyhead]

I prefer an SLR with 90mm lens for portraits - maybe it's just me, but with the SLR I can stop down to the taking aperture to preview the DOF (depth of field; at least on my camera), and I find this to be a big asset when trying to balance enough DOF to get what you want to be sharp - such as eyes and ears, and the out of focus blurred bits in the foreground and background.

It's possible to judge this with a rangefinder, but you have to be very experienced.

 

[varjag]

If you need very precise framing, SLRs with 100% finder are the way to go. However if you know your lens and camera well, it isn't especially problematic making nice protraits with RF.

Shots below were done with Kiev-4A, Jupiter-9 2/85 and universal turret finder.

 

[Toby]

I've got a bessa R and 75mm lens and have never really been able to trust the combination. Focussing accuracy close has never really been good enough. The 75mm lens probably the best 35mm portrait lens I've owned but the combination drops too many frames at wider apertures, more frustrating when you consider how good the pictures are when you get it right. If I'm shooting portraits in anger its an SLR for me

 

[former member]

I prefer a Rangefinder camera with a higher magnification finder and a short telephoto for portraits. A canon 7 with its 0.8x finder; Leica M3 with its 0.92x finder, Canon VI-t with its 1x finder; and the Nikon RF's with 1x finders.

SLR's with 92% finders (or so) are probably better for portraits than 100% finders unless you make your own prints and customize the mask to cover the entire frame, or can force your scanner into doing the entire negative. Otherwise the negative will be cropped. My Epson 3170 just does not scan everything on the negative that my Nikon F2's and F's show through the finder and capture on film. I use a "E-Screen" with grid-lines to help combat "crop factor".

Leica M3 (0.92x finder) w Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5 using the 90mm framelines as "100%".
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=486&cat=3204

Canon 7 (0.8x finder) with Nikkor 8.5cm F2, wide-open.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=20448


But to be fair, I do like my F and F2.
Nikon Ftn with Vivitar 135 F2.3, Series I. This lens will focus to about 2ft and uses a floating "close-range correction" element.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2824

 

[nihraguk]

Your opinions have all been extremely insightful and useful. 🙂 Thanks a lot for that. I figure I'm willing to trade ability to preview DOF for portability and stealth, since I envision this RF kit's use to be candid portaiture. I've just purchased gregarpp's black Bessa R, and will probably be getting a new CV 75mm from Joseph Yao in HK to go with it.