cameron.knight
Member
I love Russian rangefinders. I have two bodies, and two different versions of Industar 50mm lenses (a collapsible and a "regular" looking one).
I have a few film kits. A Pentax Spotmatic with three lens, and a Nikon F3 with three lenses.
I wanted to build up a kit around one of my Zorkis. I have a 4K and I have a 1. I started looking for a wide angle. I looked at Jupiter lenses and found the widest they made was a 35mm. I looked at a few other brands, no luck or very expensive. I finally got around to looking at Industar and found they made a pretty looking 28mm.
To bad 28mm is not a standard rangefinder lens, therefore viewfinders are hard to come by and pretty expensive.
Then I remembered I had a Diana kit with a couple extra viewfinders. Their wide angle viewfinder has frame lines for their 55mm lens and the full view is 38mm (I think).
I did some measurements with a micrometer and did some comparisons through the viewfinder of a 35mm camera with a 28mm lens attached. As it turns out, the Diana viewfinder is fits in a standard hotshot and while formatted for a square image has some unintentional references that make a perfect 28mm viewfinder.
I've attached a picture of how to use the viewfinder as a 28mm rangefinder.
In summary, if you need a 28mm viewfinder, buy a Diana 38mm super wide angle lens which comes with a viewfinder (the 55mm and 38mm viewfinders are the same). Cost on Lomography.com $35 USD. You can buy the 55mm kit for $45.
Obviously, there is not parallax correction, but it works in a pinch.
I have a few film kits. A Pentax Spotmatic with three lens, and a Nikon F3 with three lenses.
I wanted to build up a kit around one of my Zorkis. I have a 4K and I have a 1. I started looking for a wide angle. I looked at Jupiter lenses and found the widest they made was a 35mm. I looked at a few other brands, no luck or very expensive. I finally got around to looking at Industar and found they made a pretty looking 28mm.
To bad 28mm is not a standard rangefinder lens, therefore viewfinders are hard to come by and pretty expensive.
Then I remembered I had a Diana kit with a couple extra viewfinders. Their wide angle viewfinder has frame lines for their 55mm lens and the full view is 38mm (I think).
I did some measurements with a micrometer and did some comparisons through the viewfinder of a 35mm camera with a 28mm lens attached. As it turns out, the Diana viewfinder is fits in a standard hotshot and while formatted for a square image has some unintentional references that make a perfect 28mm viewfinder.
I've attached a picture of how to use the viewfinder as a 28mm rangefinder.
In summary, if you need a 28mm viewfinder, buy a Diana 38mm super wide angle lens which comes with a viewfinder (the 55mm and 38mm viewfinders are the same). Cost on Lomography.com $35 USD. You can buy the 55mm kit for $45.
Obviously, there is not parallax correction, but it works in a pinch.
