Zeiss Ikon -- Eye Relief and Family Picture

[Gerold]

No - I did not play with the Zeiss Ikon, but I got a copy of the Japanese ZI brochure. It has finder view picture which seems to suggest that the 35mm framelines are well distant to the finder edge. The finder caliber seems to be real big, much bigger than that of the R2A. This might very well make for good eye relief à la Nikon F3 HP - and that would be good news indeed for us glasses wearers! Sure, all of this is speculative - but I think there's a big promise of a great RF finder out there!

Also from the Japanese ZI brochure: A nice family picture. I trust the Zeiss/Cosina guys don't mind my lifting of their brochure pictures for this thread.

Best, Gerold

 

[Corry]

Thanks for passing the info Gerold, but what's got me is that why is the shutter speed display on the inside of the 28mm frame? In the real world I would think that the 28mm frame would be right on the edge of viewablity.

Corry

 

[einolu]

On my bessa R, I find 35 to be alittle tight as well. Lucky for me I like 50mm more in the first place.

If the Ikon ever does come out, I can dream about it, but it will probably be out of my range. Anyway, the only film camera I see myself buying in the coming years is a Leitz CL + 40mm (simply because its such a cute setup).

 

[VinceC]

The ZI's very large viewfinder has a magnification .74 and appears somewhat larger than the Leica finder. I'm going to guess that wide angles are going to be easier to frame than either Leica or Bessa R2. In fact, that should be one of the camera's strongest points, judging by the photo posted above.

By way of comparison, my Nikon S3 has a very large finder, approximately the size of the ZI, but with a maginification of 1:1. The Nikon S3 finder has its detractors, but I find it works extremely well. Without glasses, the field of view is considerably wider than 28mm. The maximum wide frame is 35mm, and with eyeglasses I don't have much trouble framing that lens -- I can't see the whole 35mm frame with my glasses, but can see nearly all of it. The finder also works extremely well for estimating the coverage of a 28mm lens. I understand the Canon P is sort of like this as well.

The ZI has a finder roughly that large but with a 1:.74 magnification. That means 28mm lenses will probably be very easy to frame. The entire image area looks as though it's going to be an approximating of the 25mm field of view, which is also compelling.

It's logical to think the shutter speed's location is based upon the position where users are sure to see it, which suggests that eyeglass wearers are going to be able to use this camera effectively with 28mm lenses. I've used older SLRs where the shutter speed intrudes into the field of view. You get used to it.

Thanks for posting the images.

 

[KoNickon]

Based on the viewfinder framelines, the magnification appears lower than .74. In fact, it looks a lot like the Hexar RF, which is .58 (and which also has the shutter speeds on the left side of the frame). Interesting that there are no 75mm or 153mm framelines, though I suppose that reflects a decision by CZ that they'll never market lenses of their own in those focal lengths.

Regarding the Canon P, the 35mm frameline is very far out in the corners -- I wear glasses and have to really peer around to see it, though the viewfinder is very nice otherwise. So I don't think you can approximate 28mm by going outside the 35mm frameline.

 

[VinceC]

I just took another look at the posted viewfinder images. I must say, as a near-daily user of a Nikon S3 with 1:1 finder, the posted images look "just about right" for a very large finder with a .74 magnification (that's the magnification posted on the Zeiss Ikon site). Nikon S3 is noticeably larger than the Canon P, so I would expect its 35mm framelines to be a bit easier to see. When I first saw the teaser image of the ZI all those months ago, I immediately noticed that its viewfinder window is approximately the size of the Nikon S3. And the large rounded view window in the rear seems to suggest some serious eye relief compared to 50-year-old finder designs.

 

[vincentbenoit]

Thanks Gerold for passing along the information. As a spectacle wearer and wide-angle shooter (28mm and 35mm account for maybe 90% of my pictures) I have great hopes in the Zeiss Ikon. Being able to use a 28mm lens without an auxiliary finder would be no small feat. I've been resisting the temptation to get a Leica 0.58x for some time, so hopefully Zeiss won't postpone the launch of the ZI again.
Gruss
Vincent

 

[aizan]

sweet. i'm seriously thinking of selling both m2 and hexar rf to get one of these. black, of course.

 

[sgy1962]

The eye relief is reported to be very good.

 

[foon]

arr..that gives me GAS....

 

[Huck Finn]

Gerold, thanks very much for posting the pictures.

Vince, from handling a prototype last year, I would say everything you've said is true for the camera I saw. I'm looking forward to seeing the final version rather than a prototype in New York next week.

Huck

 

[sgy1962]

I finally gave in to a 0.58 M, so I guess I won't be in the market unless I part with one of my Ms.