Bill Pierce
Well-known
There’s a tendency to think of the bright line finder as relatively unique, once limited to the Leica rangefinder and only becoming slightly less exclusive when Fuji adopted it for they X100 and XPro series. This is true in today’s digital world where the DSLR, electronic viewfinder and LCD dominate, but certainly not true in the film world.
The first SLRs didn’t have instant return mirrors or auto stopdown diaphragms. Most pros used SLRs or auxiliary mirror housings begrudgingly with long lenses or when they were doing macro photography. In 35mm, the rangefinder, from a variety of manufacturers, and the brightline finder were king. Even the many 35mm cameras that did not have interchangeable lenses had a direct finder.
Twin lens reflexes had hoods whose front panels swung up to provide a “sports” finder, an exceptionally inaccurate but direct view of the subject. The 4x5 press camera had a groundless and an optical finder, but everybody used the wire frame sports finder. And, when SLRs got instant return mirrors and diaphragms that stopped down automatically, they were still criticized because you couldn’t see outside the frame of the picture.
It’s a valid criticism. Obviously photographers shooting moving, changing subjects (It doesn’t matter if it is your child’s birthday party or an important news event.) benefit from a viewfinder that lets them see beyond the edges of the frame and to see the foreground and background in sharp focus. I’ve seen fashion photographers working handheld in the studio with a camera with a bright line finder simple because it let them see the lightstand with the backlight and keep it out of the picture. I’ve seen landscape photographers use the bright line finder with a small handheld camera because the DSLR, LCD or electronic viewfinder was more difficult to use in bright sunlight..
This doesn’t mean that some form of through the lens viewfinder isn’t valuable. There are many, many times when you want to know exactly where those frame edges are. There are times when you want to evaluate that out of focus background. There are times when you can work slowly and carefully with an exact preview of the final image. Both viewfinder types are extremely valuable. Like a lot of working stiffs, there were times when I traveled with both systems. But I just wonder why in this day of versatile electronic finders only Fuji makes cameras with both bright line and through the lens viewfinders. Why not Leica and the other guys? It seems to me a very useful camera if you are doing a variety of handheld photography.
How do you solve the problem (or isn’t it a problem)?
The first SLRs didn’t have instant return mirrors or auto stopdown diaphragms. Most pros used SLRs or auxiliary mirror housings begrudgingly with long lenses or when they were doing macro photography. In 35mm, the rangefinder, from a variety of manufacturers, and the brightline finder were king. Even the many 35mm cameras that did not have interchangeable lenses had a direct finder.
Twin lens reflexes had hoods whose front panels swung up to provide a “sports” finder, an exceptionally inaccurate but direct view of the subject. The 4x5 press camera had a groundless and an optical finder, but everybody used the wire frame sports finder. And, when SLRs got instant return mirrors and diaphragms that stopped down automatically, they were still criticized because you couldn’t see outside the frame of the picture.
It’s a valid criticism. Obviously photographers shooting moving, changing subjects (It doesn’t matter if it is your child’s birthday party or an important news event.) benefit from a viewfinder that lets them see beyond the edges of the frame and to see the foreground and background in sharp focus. I’ve seen fashion photographers working handheld in the studio with a camera with a bright line finder simple because it let them see the lightstand with the backlight and keep it out of the picture. I’ve seen landscape photographers use the bright line finder with a small handheld camera because the DSLR, LCD or electronic viewfinder was more difficult to use in bright sunlight..
This doesn’t mean that some form of through the lens viewfinder isn’t valuable. There are many, many times when you want to know exactly where those frame edges are. There are times when you want to evaluate that out of focus background. There are times when you can work slowly and carefully with an exact preview of the final image. Both viewfinder types are extremely valuable. Like a lot of working stiffs, there were times when I traveled with both systems. But I just wonder why in this day of versatile electronic finders only Fuji makes cameras with both bright line and through the lens viewfinders. Why not Leica and the other guys? It seems to me a very useful camera if you are doing a variety of handheld photography.
How do you solve the problem (or isn’t it a problem)?
