Bill Pierce
Well-known
In olden days the Speed Graphic had a ground glass, an optical viewfinder and a wireframe “sports finder.” Today’s digital camera can have an LCD screen that is not that different in function from the ground glass. It may have an eye level electronic viewfinder not too different from the Graphic’s optical viewfinder. And if it’s a Leica, Fuji X Pro or you slip an accessory bright frame finder into the accessory shoe a la the early Sigmas, you have the modern equivalent of the Graphic’s sports finder.
But, there seems to be a difference between then and now. News photographers with the Graphic used all the available finders; they had to. The groundglass was the only way to focus a lens that wasn’t linked to the camera’s rangefinder and while the optical viewfinder was accurate, it provided too reduced a view to work as quickly as the wire frame finder in quick breaking situations.
Most of the folks I know tend to use just one of the finder option with today’s digital cameras, the eye level viewfinder. Certainly with a DSLR most folks just use the eye level finder, but I have a friend who is a product photographer who uses the rear screen on the camera body. It makes him more conscious of the framing and what is happening at the periphery of the frame. Mounted on a tripod, it’s almost as if he was using a miniaturized version of an old fashioned view camera. Obviously, this is a technique that would work well for many studio photographers, architectural photographers, landscape photographers, e.t.c.. I have to say, mirror or mirrorless, I’m an eye level viewfinder guy after years of holding 35mm film rangefinders and reflexes up to my eye. Seeing someone use a small digital camera as if it were a small view camera was a bit of a jolt, but when I tried it while making relatively static images, it worked. It was better than the eye level viewfinder.
Most folks don’t use a bright line finders with their digital cameras because the cameras don’t have a bright line finder. Leica, the Fuji X Pro and X100 series and auxiliary finders on Sigma cameras are the only ones that come to mind. I used to shove old Leica auxiliary bright line finders in the accessory shoes in a variety of cameras. The finders serve a purpose in providing a sharp image near to far and allowing you to see outside the frame lines - good for shooting almost anything over which you have little or no control and want to remain as aware as possible of what is happening.
It’s a little late for a New Year’s resolution, but I think I’m going to explore the variety of viewfinder options open to me and not just use the eye level finder. Hardly a life changing journey, but it should be interesting. What do you think?
But, there seems to be a difference between then and now. News photographers with the Graphic used all the available finders; they had to. The groundglass was the only way to focus a lens that wasn’t linked to the camera’s rangefinder and while the optical viewfinder was accurate, it provided too reduced a view to work as quickly as the wire frame finder in quick breaking situations.
Most of the folks I know tend to use just one of the finder option with today’s digital cameras, the eye level viewfinder. Certainly with a DSLR most folks just use the eye level finder, but I have a friend who is a product photographer who uses the rear screen on the camera body. It makes him more conscious of the framing and what is happening at the periphery of the frame. Mounted on a tripod, it’s almost as if he was using a miniaturized version of an old fashioned view camera. Obviously, this is a technique that would work well for many studio photographers, architectural photographers, landscape photographers, e.t.c.. I have to say, mirror or mirrorless, I’m an eye level viewfinder guy after years of holding 35mm film rangefinders and reflexes up to my eye. Seeing someone use a small digital camera as if it were a small view camera was a bit of a jolt, but when I tried it while making relatively static images, it worked. It was better than the eye level viewfinder.
Most folks don’t use a bright line finders with their digital cameras because the cameras don’t have a bright line finder. Leica, the Fuji X Pro and X100 series and auxiliary finders on Sigma cameras are the only ones that come to mind. I used to shove old Leica auxiliary bright line finders in the accessory shoes in a variety of cameras. The finders serve a purpose in providing a sharp image near to far and allowing you to see outside the frame lines - good for shooting almost anything over which you have little or no control and want to remain as aware as possible of what is happening.
It’s a little late for a New Year’s resolution, but I think I’m going to explore the variety of viewfinder options open to me and not just use the eye level finder. Hardly a life changing journey, but it should be interesting. What do you think?
