Whateverist
Well-known
Maybe this is just me being horribly naive, but this has been bugging me.
Viewfinders are expensive. Very expensive. They cost as much as a decent lens on eBay (just search for '25mm viewfinder" and feel your wallet cringe).
I understand why these viewfinders are expensive. These are precision optics - lenses in their own right - and as such they are expensive to manufacture.
So where are the budget options? The off-brand, slightly dark, slightly muddy good-enough viewfinders? Lord knows there's plenty of cheap lenses knocking about. If I want a 50mm LTM I can find something for a budget of $smallcar all the way down to $sandwich. When I want a 50mm viewfinder, all that's available in the less-than-the-actual-lens pricerange is a bulky Soviet turret, which magically manages to cram six good-enough viewfinder lenses into a $50 shell.
All I want is a piece of plastic the size of a sugar cube with a lens that lets me see what a 25mm lens sees...
Viewfinders are expensive. Very expensive. They cost as much as a decent lens on eBay (just search for '25mm viewfinder" and feel your wallet cringe).
I understand why these viewfinders are expensive. These are precision optics - lenses in their own right - and as such they are expensive to manufacture.
So where are the budget options? The off-brand, slightly dark, slightly muddy good-enough viewfinders? Lord knows there's plenty of cheap lenses knocking about. If I want a 50mm LTM I can find something for a budget of $smallcar all the way down to $sandwich. When I want a 50mm viewfinder, all that's available in the less-than-the-actual-lens pricerange is a bulky Soviet turret, which magically manages to cram six good-enough viewfinder lenses into a $50 shell.
All I want is a piece of plastic the size of a sugar cube with a lens that lets me see what a 25mm lens sees...
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
You can't get even soviet turret one at $50.
As of 25mm, I managed CV's one two days ago for $99 of the e-bay.
Budget option is widely available as DIY Viewfinder. Just google it.
As of 25mm, I managed CV's one two days ago for $99 of the e-bay.
Budget option is widely available as DIY Viewfinder. Just google it.
mdarnton
Well-known
You should spring for a Leitz Imarect/VIOOH. It's not small, but it's smaller than the Contax/Russian version, and gives everything between 35 and 135 (there's a 28mm attachment for it, too, but I don't have one). I just bought one after reading that James Ravilious used one on his M3 because of the picture-frame view it gave, and I have to say that it's turned out to be quite appealing. Finding a clean one is difficult, but they're not too hard to take apart and clean, and they aren't very expensive for what they do.
It's not comparable to looking through an old LTM Leica, with it's fuzzy border. The Imarect border is absolutely sharp. I still haven't figured out if the slight veiling I have seen on three so far is permanent or a "feature" but it's not too distracting.
They do show up in your price range, too. I haven't found a direct relationship between price and quality, either: some people think they're old and weird, thus cheap; some think if it says Leitz on it, it has to be expensive.
It's not comparable to looking through an old LTM Leica, with it's fuzzy border. The Imarect border is absolutely sharp. I still haven't figured out if the slight veiling I have seen on three so far is permanent or a "feature" but it's not too distracting.
They do show up in your price range, too. I haven't found a direct relationship between price and quality, either: some people think they're old and weird, thus cheap; some think if it says Leitz on it, it has to be expensive.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
I had and used both. Leica one is way too primitive comparing to Soviet in terms of optics.
And as huge as Soviet as well.
IIf RD, Summitar, VIOOH. by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr
And as huge as Soviet as well.
IIf RD, Summitar, VIOOH. by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
CV plastic viewfinders are pretty solid and not too pricey. You can get most for around 100.
D
D
mdarnton
Well-known
Your mileage may vary, I guess: I have both, and hate the Russian one, with its messy, confusing display.
BillBingham2
Registered User
When I was looking for viewfinders a few years back I found that unlike cameras the text they were listed under needed a widdddder net to catch the ones I wanted.
On sites like shopgoodwill.com you might not even see a 21mm leica viewfinder as it's bundled in with other stuff. Nikon and Canon made some great finders back in the 50s and 60s. Some from Kumora, Kodak and others were good too.
While it might be a brightline finder it might be listed as veiwfinder or view finder or just finder. Sports finders are sometimes called wire finders or viewfinders.
One approach you might take is to look through sold items on a site to give you guidance as to the right terms to watch for. That way you don't limit yourself to find only what is actively being sold.
Good luck, I loved the feeling when I found what I wanted often at the price I could pay.
B2 (;->
On sites like shopgoodwill.com you might not even see a 21mm leica viewfinder as it's bundled in with other stuff. Nikon and Canon made some great finders back in the 50s and 60s. Some from Kumora, Kodak and others were good too.
While it might be a brightline finder it might be listed as veiwfinder or view finder or just finder. Sports finders are sometimes called wire finders or viewfinders.
One approach you might take is to look through sold items on a site to give you guidance as to the right terms to watch for. That way you don't limit yourself to find only what is actively being sold.
Good luck, I loved the feeling when I found what I wanted often at the price I could pay.
B2 (;->
rbsinto
Well-known
An Israeli was selling very inexpensive finders (about $25.00 plus shipping) on ebay in a variety of focal lengths.
He stated in his ad that they were home made and not as good as the more expensive ones, but that they did the job.
They were shown mounted on a couple of different rangefinder bodies, and all appeared to be indentical, which lead me to assume that they were simply optical finders with some sort of mask that approximated the field of vision.
I considered buying one for a 17mm SLR lens that I use with an adapter on my Nikon rangefinders, but in the end bit the bullet and purchased a CV plastic finder in the closest available focal length.
I can't find his ads on ebay but did find this link to another site where one of his finders is described, and you might get to him via the person in this link.
I hope this helps.
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/...ordable-optical-viewfinder-option-k-01-a.html
He stated in his ad that they were home made and not as good as the more expensive ones, but that they did the job.
They were shown mounted on a couple of different rangefinder bodies, and all appeared to be indentical, which lead me to assume that they were simply optical finders with some sort of mask that approximated the field of vision.
I considered buying one for a 17mm SLR lens that I use with an adapter on my Nikon rangefinders, but in the end bit the bullet and purchased a CV plastic finder in the closest available focal length.
I can't find his ads on ebay but did find this link to another site where one of his finders is described, and you might get to him via the person in this link.
I hope this helps.
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/...ordable-optical-viewfinder-option-k-01-a.html
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Free 21mm Israeli viewfinder (well, for the cost of postage, which will be like $3 in the U.S.) to the first person who PMs me today (September 28). If you don't hear back from me by tomorrow, you didn't get it - so please, no follow-up PMs, emails, etc.
Dante
Dante
rhl-oregon
Cameras Guitars Wonders
Way to pay it forward, Dante. Or sideways.
Btw, the maker of inexpensive OVFs is named Boris Gorins, and can be found (usually) on eBay as Boriska.
Btw, the maker of inexpensive OVFs is named Boris Gorins, and can be found (usually) on eBay as Boriska.
Huss
Veteran
rhl-oregon
Cameras Guitars Wonders
Dante got it from me during rff holiday giveaways. He's passing it on for postage costs, as I did.
(I passed it on, not because it was bad--Boris charges only $20/shipping from Israel for these, which is already generous given the labor--but because I had obtained a CV 21mm, and I thought someone else might enjoy a nearly free OVF.)
(I passed it on, not because it was bad--Boris charges only $20/shipping from Israel for these, which is already generous given the labor--but because I had obtained a CV 21mm, and I thought someone else might enjoy a nearly free OVF.)
wallace
Well-known
I purchased a 28mm finder from Israel (as desribed above). It was a big mistake.......be warned!
The Voigtlander finders are good!
The Voigtlander finders are good!
JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
There is one decent and inexpensive finder, with a 28mm FOV and frame lines for 35. But it has a 4:3 aspect ratio, made by Olympus, alas, for their m4/3 cameras.
~Joe
~Joe
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Exactly.
It's ok for use as a finder; it's like a 15mm Lomo finder that has been masked off to a narrower rectangular format. Clever - but I have been trying to eliminate extra bits and pieces, so it needs a new home!
Dante
Fotohuis
Well-known
Well my universal turret finder was 3 bottles of R09/Rodinal.
Jockos
Well-known
They should be quite easy to manufacture, with live view and 3d printing.
rbsinto
Well-known
It cost all of $25.00 and another couple of dollars in shipping.
Unless you used all of you Life Savings to pay for it, how big a mistake could it have been???????
Tijmendal
Young photog
That's what I can't wrap my head around. Surely these things can't be that hard to manufacture right (meaning they shouldn't be expensive). Viewfinders always seem disproportionally expensive. The quality of the glass can be pretty low right?
Fotohuis
Well-known
It depends what you expect from a V.F. The Russian universal turret finder (28-35-50-85-135mm) is not bad but comparing with the Cosina Voigtlander zoom V.F. 15mm-35mm it is less. In the C.V. finder the dioptry correction is build in too. Different in quality but both are working.