universal acc. finder or separate finders?

[laptoprob]

What are your experiences with separate accessory viewfinders?
I just got a universal viewfinder T.O.C brand, similar like the Accura with clickstops for 35, 50, 85, 90, 105 and 135.
Very nice, it gives just slightly smaller view than my separate 35, 85 and 135 Canon viewfinders. It isquite a lot bigger though.
I guess I will just try what I like better on my Bessa T. The use of the separate finders is no problem if I don't change lenses that often. If I do want to change it is quite a hassle!

 

[Roger Hicks]

The best individual finders tend to be brighter with a bigger image. Multi-finders are mostly old (uncoated and flary even when new, and not improved with decades of use) but the best are still very nice: look out for TEWE's 35-200.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Since this is in the "General Discussion" I'll comment on my experience with the Zeiss finders for the Contax cameras. I have both Turret finders and individual finders. The turret type are very clear and the wideangle settings appear less distorted than the dedicated finders, but the dedicated finders are more compact and a little brighter. And then there is the late model (recent for Zeiss -- late '50's or early '60's 🙂) type 427 finder with brightlines -- it is very nice.

I tend to go more often with the individual finders for ease of use, but it is nice to have the turrets for backup in case I am using more cameras/lenses in one focal length on an outing.

 

[ScottS]

On the subject of Zeiss finders, if you don't like the turrets, there's also the 427 multifinder. It has projected bright lines for 35, 50, 85, 135. The view is a bit busy, but 85 and 35 are labeled. The lines are projected via a second window with only the bright lines -- i.e. if you cover the bottom window, you see bright lines against a black background. Because of the second window, though, it's quite tall.

The overall finder view is quite wide, so even w/ glasses the 35 lines are visible. If you don't wear glasses, the whole finder view could be used to approximate a 21 or 25 (with my eye all the way up to it, the view is wider than that in my 25 finder -- I don't have a 21 finder to see how close to 21 it actually gets, but I suspect it's closer to 25 than 21.

Scott