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Which old DSLRs are equipped with ok viewfinders?
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:34 am    Post subject: Which old DSLRs are equipped with ok viewfinders? Reply with quote
With manual lenses,
a good viewfinder is quite important.
Are there any good ranking lists about VFs of old DSLRs?


PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Pentax K10d or K20d or K7

Timo


PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I vote for Canon 5D + change of focusing screen to Ee-S
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=844153


PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Deffo a +1 for the 5D, Canon 30D, 40D and 50D are good too. As is the Pentax ist D and Ds (and Samsung equivalents) I believe.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:06 am    Post subject: any special nikon vf's? Reply with quote
are there any special vf's on old Nikons?


PostPosted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
There are no ranking lists for old one but you can sort list of current cameras here by magnification (Site in in German language, check for "Sucher Vergrößerung"):
http://www.chip.de/bestenlisten/Bestenliste-DSLR-und-DSLM--index/detail/id/968/
(Be careful, magnification is based on sensor size!)
As you can see the larger viewfinders are mostly EVF - so not interchangable but they all have magnified live view (even better than splitscreen imho). Canon 7D is best of consumer DSLRs without EVF (1.00x) but most DSLRs have 0.82x-0.92x magnification only.

For alternative focusing screens check http://www.focusingscreen.com/ - they also have many Nikon DSLR focusing screens.

But be careful - Nikon cameras have more problems than Canon, Sony, Pentax,... to adapt old manual lenses due longer flange back.
(M42 lenses etc. don't reach infinity without serious modification or loss of IQ on Nikon!)

And be very careful when changing focusing screens - they are damn sensitive! Use powder free gloves and steril environment!


PostPosted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Nikons have super viewfinders, far better than many of my old SLR's. I dont know how they compare against other DSLR's. Its all to do with the focusing screen I guess when you are using MF lenses.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 3:31 am    Post subject: My Nikons Reply with quote
I'm using a D300, mostly with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 and the VF is very adequate. I am considering a change to a Katz-eye, or something similar to make using my Tokina 500mm mirror easier, although that very optimistic f/8 will probably black out half the split image.

The shocker was my recently acquired D40 that has a VF far better than I would have guessed for a penta-mirror. I've had D70, D70s, and D50 in the past with similar VF technology, but not nearly as good performance. I shot with my "new" Tamron Adaptall 300mm f/5.6 this weekend and was pretty happy with the ease in focusing. That lens is far from fast, it just makes a nice match for the D40, physically.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Easy. The 100% viewfinder in the Eos 1Ds (any version) with an Ec-B or Ec-L split screen will give the best DSLR finder experience available.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
philslizzy wrote:
My Nikons have super viewfinders, far better than many of my old SLR's. I dont know how they compare against other DSLR's. Its all to do with the focusing screen I guess when you are using MF lenses.

Really? That's the inverse of my experience, I still have the Nikon F100 and when I compared that to the D3, D700 that I used, the F100's standard screen and viewfinder were better than either the D3/D3s and the D700. I've also got the Katzeye screen for the D700 and the F100's standard screen is STILL better to use than the D700.

schen wrote:
I'm using a D300, mostly with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 and the VF is very adequate. I am considering a change to a Katz-eye, or something similar to make using my Tokina 500mm mirror easier, although that very optimistic f/8 will probably black out half the split image.

The shocker was my recently acquired D40 that has a VF far better than I would have guessed for a penta-mirror. I've had D70, D70s, and D50 in the past with similar VF technology, but not nearly as good performance. I shot with my "new" Tamron Adaptall 300mm f/5.6 this weekend and was pretty happy with the ease in focusing. That lens is far from fast, it just makes a nice match for the D40, physically.

That is surprising, I still have a D70 and I think the pentamirrors are out of alignment and it's blurry in one corner.

Also I had the D300 with the katzeye and the VF enlarger from Nikon and I didn't like it near as much as the full frame VFs, which was only pretty good after the Nikon VF enlarger (the round ones for the pro bodies).


- - -

And as said, I really like the Canon 5D and up VFs, I think they are a tad better than the Nikon ones. The 1D full frame VFs are definitely the best on the market, next to the Sony A900 finder.


PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I can only really talk about Canon and Nikon cameras but they ALL SUCK, regardless of model. Their screens were never designed to be used for critical manual focusing, especially with lenses of shorter focal lengths.

When I got my D700, I got a manual focusing screen from focusingscreen.com and it works like a champ. The microprism screen is dead on. Katzeye.com also makes great screens too, but they are more expensive than those from focusingscreen.com and their selection is much more limited
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