Which FSU camera has the best viewfinder?

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fymmot

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I love shooting with my Zorki 4K, partly because of the big and bright viewfinder. It's mangnitudes brighter and clearer than that of my FED5b but sometimes I feel that it's missing something.

Accurately framing a shot with 1:1 viewfinder is quite a hassle and it's hard to see the edges, so I wonder if there's a FSU camera that has both a bright finder AND framelines?
 
Iskra in medium format, or Drug and Kiev-5 in 35mm.

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This is the Drug viewfinder, which is 1:1 with framelines for 50 and 85mm, from this old review thread.
 
fymmot said:
I love shooting with my Zorki 4K, partly because of the big and bright viewfinder. It's mangnitudes brighter and clearer than that of my FED5b but sometimes I feel that it's missing something.

Accurately framing a shot with 1:1 viewfinder is quite a hassle and it's hard to see the edges, so I wonder if there's a FSU camera that has both a bright finder AND framelines?
Click to expand...

Try shooting with both eyes open, the 1:1 allows for it and shooting it gets a lot easier once you've grown accustomed to it.
 
buzzardkid said:
Try shooting with both eyes open, the 1:1 allows for it and shooting it gets a lot easier once you've grown accustomed to it.
Click to expand...

I would love that but unfortunately I'm severely left eye dominant, so my right eye is hidden behind the camera. I have tried learning to shoot with my right eye but I just can't get the hang of it. With both eyes open, I can only barely make out the rangefinder square, much less focus accurately.
 
Zorki-1 (rangefinder window is 1:1) and the viewfinder is separated from it.

Zorki-6 is the best 50mm viewfinder ever (ok, may be Leningrad has a better one with multiple frames).
 
Zorki 5 has the same finder as a Zorki 6. Out of the more commonly available FSUs, they're probably amongst the best - but that's rather a personal opinion.
 
I'll vote for Drug, too. Leningrad is bright but has low magnification and lots of distorsion. Fed-5c is rumored to have a 5omm brightline with less than 1:1 magnification.
 
Fed 5c is definately the best Fed finder, & I rate the Zorki 4's finder over the Z5/6 as much as i like the later... At the moment though i prefer the Kiev 4 finder not for its size, but its accuracy...
 
fymmot said:
I love shooting with my Zorki 4K, partly because of the big and bright viewfinder. It's mangnitudes brighter and clearer than that of my FED5b but sometimes I feel that it's missing something.

Accurately framing a shot with 1:1 viewfinder is quite a hassle and it's hard to see the edges, so I wonder if there's a FSU camera that has both a bright finder AND framelines?
Click to expand...

The Sokol or Sokol 2 has what you want. It has the best viewfinder I have seen in any FSU rangefinder camera. Unfortunately it has a fixed lens and is rather large and heavy.
 
Depends what your looking for.............. The doug has a great viewfinder, but try to find one......... good luck.... they are not that common.and from what I can see the shutter is on the front of the camera, a strange place in my thinking. The Fed 5c has a decent VF with bright lines ,but it is not as bright as a Z 4K. Most accurate in my estimation are the Kiev finders, What you see in the VF, you get on the film, That's the beauty of the Kievs! They also have the best RF patchs, but tend to be on the dim side, not the best for shooting in low light, although I do have 79' kiev 4 that has a relatively bright VF for a Kiev...... But it s the exception rather than the rule...... Kievs don't have bright lines in the VF either, something I like, as most bright lines do not give you very accurate framing, that goes for leica cameras too. Z5/6's do not have bright lines, but do have pretty bright VF's. Any Russian( (or any other make, for that matter) RF camera you use will have draw backs or advantages depending on what you are looking for. I have yet to find the perfect RF camera for every situation I encounter- Kievman www.michaelmaltese.com
 
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Hello,

in my opinion, the best rangefinder in a former USSR camera can be found in the Kievs (with the better accuracy in the older ones).

When well-calibrated, an excellent rangefinder is that of the Leningrad: dioptric correction and frames for the various lenses.

Zorkis and FEDs have dioptric correction, but a short-base rangefinder (so, less accurate than the Kiev/Contax type), but the same short base was on Leicas...

I think that the best rangefinder is the one mounted on our favourite RF camera.

Best wishes,

Elmar Lang
 
Elmar Lang said:
I think that the best rangefinder is the one mounted on our favourite RF camera.
Click to expand...

That's the truth! In spite of all the quirks and faults of my Zorki 4K, I've grown to like it a lot. After 12 rolls through it and counting, I'm sticking with it. But I can't help to think that it would be neat to try a RF with framelines, just to see what I am missing.

I just bid on an 60's Yashica camera on a Swedish auction site, so we'll see if I will fall in love with that as well!
 
I vote for the Kiev 4 series, I own 2 of them (a 1960's version, and a 1981 version) ... both work well, but the 1960's one 'feels' better made. The VF in both is very bright and clear.

I also own a Leningrad, but I bought it more as a collectible. The viewfinder is extremely high-tech (for 1950's technology), but as mentioned, it has some distortion and isn't exceptionally bright. Also, the convergent 'split prism' image of the rangefinder patch is tough to see sometimes. Another beef -- the multiple framelines are relatively useless, since the Leningrad can't take typical FSU lenses ... supposedly there were custom lenses made for the Leningrad body, but they are extremely rare and hard to find now. Many of the regular FSU lenses don't mount properly on the Leningrad due to the body design.
 
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