some BESSA R questions...

[haagen_dazs]

reading from cameraquest website..
what does this mean?? (direct quotes)

# Viewfinder .68 magnification

# Framelines designed to show 87% of lens coverage at 3 meters

# .....Bessa R's rangefinder patch to flare out and disappear like sometimes happens with the M6, you do have to be careful and keep your eye centered in the eyepiece. If your eye is too much to the left, you will still see the RF image. If your eye too much to the right, the RF image disappears.

Why is that so?

# The Bessa R's finder magnification is .7 -- close to the standard Leica M magnification of .72


thanks all!! love you guys!!!!

 

[rbiemer]

reading from cameraquest website..
what does this mean?? (direct quotes)

# Viewfinder .68 magnification

# Framelines designed to show 87% of lens coverage at 3 meters

# .....Bessa R's rangefinder patch to flare out and disappear like sometimes happens with the M6, you do have to be careful and keep your eye centered in the eyepiece. If your eye is too much to the left, you will still see the RF image. If your eye too much to the right, the RF image disappears.

Why is that so?

# The Bessa R's finder magnification is .7 -- close to the standard Leica M magnification of .72


thanks all!! love you guys!!!!

I'll try to help out here.
>>".68 magnification" and ".7 magnification" the view through the viewfinder is smaller than real life-- if an object you are looking at is 1 meter (tall or wide) in real life it will appear to be 680 or 700 milimeters in the viewfinder--it is like looking through a telescope or binoculars the wrong way--thing seem smaller.

>>" the frame lines designed to show 87% of lens coverage at 3 meters" the lens will capture on film a little more than what the framelines show. This is equivalent to most SLR cameras showing a bit less in the viewfinder than what they will image on the film. Effectively it means that what is on the film will be what is inside the framelines plus a bit more. The "at three meters" means when the lens is focused at that distance. And I read that as meaning that at different focus distances, the percentage changes(but I don't know how much).

>>The rangefinder patch is illuminated by the light shining on the front of the camera. And there is a difference in the color of the RF patch and the rest of the viewfinder. If that light is very strong it will "flare out" or over power the patch.
Since the rangefinder optical system is to the right of the viewfinder(as you look through the camera), if your eye is too far to the right, you are moving away from where the RF patch is projected.
Hope this helps!
Rob

 

[haagen_dazs]

that helps alot!!
wow 87% is actually very small.

my dslr is almost 100%

this 87% isnt too good right? if someone composes the photo just right, the final image is going to include alot of extra unwanted stuff that should be cropped out
🙁

 

[rbiemer]

87 is a significant fraction smaller than 100 but it works out OK (for me anyway) because of some differences in SLR and RF viewfinders and the way I use each of them.
First--on my Bessa R-- there is room around the framelines so I can see what's outside of them.
Second--I frame differently with my RF cameras and can mostly live with that discrepancy. If I want exact framing I use an SLR with 100% viewfinder coverage. I will happily adjust cropping in post processing if I need to.
Thirdly--I use commercial processing so the prints and scans are cropped some anyway. It has worked out in my case that the VF image and what I actually get on the print/screen are fairly close.
Rob

 

[pvdhaar]

that helps alot!!
wow 87% is actually very small.

my dslr is almost 100%

this 87% isnt too good right? if someone composes the photo just right, the final image is going to include alot of extra unwanted stuff that should be cropped out
🙁

Depends on how you look at it. The framelines indicate 87%, but the viewfinder is larger than that. You can actually see outside the frames! This is a enormous help in composing.

 

[jonasv]

Don't compare frame coverage of a DSLR to a rangefinder's. It's pointless. In a rangefinder, the coverage is actually 125%, 150%, 200%, or whatever - depending on what framelines you are seeing. On a (d)SLR, you only see what's inside your image, so at the very least you need to see all of it. This isn't as important on a rangefinder.

Rangefinders are not meant to put on a tripod and compose slowly and carefully.

 

[tedwhite]

You can put a rangefinder camera on a tripod and compose slowly and carefully. It's possible to do so. But I don't know anyone who does. RF's are for grab shots, fast moving stuff, street shooting, the fleeting visual moment.