Two Newbie Viewfinder questions

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brianentz

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Sep 23, 2011
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I just got a Leitz turret style viewfinder. I know it's not the best but it was a good deal. This model does not reverse the image as I have read other Leitz models did. I have two questions;

1) With a turret style viewfinder like this, the long end of perspectives (like for a 135mm lens setting) the image visible is a small box in the center. No problem. But if I had a 135mm viewfinder like a canon or Nikon that is a single perspective finder will what I see looking in fill the frame? In other words, be magnified?

2) This viewfinder is in good condition, but there is a little haze. I'm tempted to open it up (at least take the rear plate off) and trying cleaning the lens elements. I've taken apart simple fixed focal length manual focus lenses before, but I'm unfamiliar with this. I'm worried about there being some complex elements that a simpleton like me might get himself into trouble with.

Eventually, I want to get clean fixed perspective viewfinders for each of my lenses, but for now I think this will work okay.
IMG_8394.jpgIMG_8395.jpg
 
brianentz said:
1) With a turret style viewfinder like this, the long end of perspectives (like for a 135mm lens setting) the image visible is a small box in the center. No problem. But if I had a 135mm viewfinder like a canon or Nikon that is a single perspective finder will what I see looking in fill the frame? In other words, be magnified?
Click to expand...

The answer is "it depends". Not all single-focal-length finders are made equal. I have one of Canon's offerings for 135mm, and it's magnified, but the eye relief is poor, the edges are badly defined, and the overall experience is considerably worse than the VIOOH at the 135mm setting. On the other hand, Leitz's dedicated 135mm finder is 1:1, incredibly clear, and honestly the best way to frame a 135mm lens (better than the built-in frames on an M, even).

brianentz said:
2) This viewfinder is in good condition, but there is a little haze. I'm tempted to open it up (at least take the rear plate off) and trying cleaning the lens elements. I've taken apart simple fixed focal length manual focus lenses before, but I'm unfamiliar with this. I'm worried about there being some complex elements that a simpleton like me might get himself into trouble with.
Click to expand...

Depending on what you need to clean, it's either a very simple job or a bit of a pain.

Getting access to the prism and cleaning that is really simple - just remove the back plate and it comes straight out. Bear in mind that it's very easy to clean off the edge blacking on the prism (rendering it near-useless!) if you're not careful. Have something to re-black it to hand, just in case (@Sonnar Brian apparently uses black sharpie, so it doesn't have to be anything fancy!). I think I used a Posca paint pen on mine.

Getting into the "nose cone" if you need to clean up front can be tricky - although the most fiddly bit is getting the reassembly right.
 
A friend of mine bought one of these finders not very long ago, for a good price because of haze. We opened it up in my shop and I saw that all of the prism's surfaces were dirty. I put it back together as we found it, but he later cleaned the prism up and that made a big improvement in the finder's clarity.
 
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