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turret viewfinder
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:09 pm    Post subject: turret viewfinder Reply with quote
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59643517@N05/19169404469/in/pool-jupiter9/

Hi,
I have one of these viewfinders, I use it to have a rough idea of how the scene would look like with a given focal length.
Was wondering however how they came on the market and what was the original purpose.

Thanks.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The one in picture is the 35mm film rangefinder type. The 'standard' set of lenses for 35mm RF-cameras was early fixed to five lengths: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85m and 135mm. (Looks familiar, doesn't it?) At the short end, some other focal lengths can also be found, like 24 or 21.

Engraving/painting etc. into the tiny RF viewfinder the different areas each of these lenses covers was not very practical. It was prolly Leitz/Leica which made the first one-for-each-focal-length-turret-viewfinder. The Russian version in the pic is a straight copy.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Russian turret viewfinder pictured in your link is actually the same as the pre-1939 Zeiss design made for the Contax family. The Leitz Universal finder wasn't a turret design but instead used a masking system to reduce the field of view. Same result but via a different route. Derivatives of both types were made by a number of firms during the period from the late 1940s to sometime in the 1960s. Rangefinder cameras with built-in finders that catered for various focal lengths eroded demand at first and then the establishment of the single reflex as the dominant camera design killed them off. However, in recent years, Cosina-Voigtlander did resurrect the idea for their family of rangefinder models.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Right. I was thinkin of Zeits, not Leiss.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gamera wrote:
The one in picture is the 35mm film rangefinder type. The 'standard' set of lenses for 35mm RF-cameras was early fixed to five lengths: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85m and 135mm. (Looks familiar, doesn't it?) At the short end, some other focal lengths can also be found, like 24 or 21.

Engraving/painting etc. into the tiny RF viewfinder the different areas each of these lenses covers was not very practical. It was prolly Leitz/Leica which made the first one-for-each-focal-length-turret-viewfinder. The Russian version in the pic is a straight copy.


So the photographer had to set the viewfinder to the focal length of the lens (28, 35, 50, 85, 135), frame the picture, focus using the rangefinder and take the picture, right?

Thanks.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Focus is done on the camera, the turret finder is for framing only, but yes, you set the finder to the focal length of the lens.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
wolan wrote:
Gamera wrote:
The one in picture is the 35mm film rangefinder type. The 'standard' set of lenses for 35mm RF-cameras was early fixed to five lengths: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85m and 135mm. (Looks familiar, doesn't it?) At the short end, some other focal lengths can also be found, like 24 or 21.

Engraving/painting etc. into the tiny RF viewfinder the different areas each of these lenses covers was not very practical. It was prolly Leitz/Leica which made the first one-for-each-focal-length-turret-viewfinder. The Russian version in the pic is a straight copy.


So the photographer had to set the viewfinder to the focal length of the lens (28, 35, 50, 85, 135), frame the picture, focus using the rangefinder and take the picture, right?

Thanks.


Yes, the turret viewfinder has no connection to the camera, if you fit a 135mm lens to the camera you set the turret to 135 as well and it gives a more accurate view than the camera viewfinder that doesn't adjust to the various focal lengths. They are good accessories, very useful and the Russian one's are very nicely made as well.
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