Understanding RF magnification

[samoksner]

Although i understand that the higher the manification, the higher the focusing accuracy, at the sacrifice of the ability to use shorter focal length (the frames for those focal lengths that is), but what are the factors behind RF magnification, what are the numbers to look at?

Leica has several manification, the Zeiss Ikon as well, but what are the differences between the viewfinder in a technical sense? CV has a 1:1 finder, what is the magnification for that and what numbers in a tech sheet would allow me to determine that?

Thanks so much for your help, i really want to understand all this!

 

[payasam]

In the end it's all pretty straightforward. You could start by getting the specs for several camera bodies and making up a table with what you find. Including frame lines provided and physical range-finder base lengths might be a good idea.

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

Another tip for rangefinders. Leica and Zeiss use the lenses to bring up the framelines, CV has a manual switch to choose the framelines.

Rangefinder base plays a role in how much Effective Base Length a particular camera has. A 1:1 viewfinder EBL will be the same as the physical rangefinder base. The R3A for example has a physical base of 37mm, it has a 1:1 viewfinder. Its EBL is (37 x 1) 37mm

The R2A has a .7 magnification. It has the same physical rangefinder base of 37mm. Its Effective Base Length is (37 x .7) 25.9mm.

 

[Chris101]

Magnification is how big stuff looks through the viewfinder. 1:1 would be 1.0 - that is things would look the same size through the viewfinder as the do just looking at them. A viewfinder magnification of 0.85 will make things look 85% as big as they actually do, 0.58 will look 58% as big, etc. Just multiply the VF magnification by 100 to get the percent size the view will be.