I use a Leica IIIa and was considering the purchase of a 50mm optical finder. The original Leitz SBOOI is quite expensive. How does it compare to the Voitglander brightline finder. Is the Leitz one worth the extra money ?

Kind Regards,

Tony Salce

-- Tony Salce (NadinaTony@bigpond.com), November 15, 2001

Answers

The SBOOI finder is 1:1 which allows you to open both eyes and get that wonderful frame floating in space effect. A cosmetically poor example will sell for a $100US or less. At least that is what I paid for mine. The "Voigtina" 50 finder is not 1:1 though the latest offered with the limited edition Bessa R is. I would try the Voigtina one before buying as the eyerelief on my 35mm one is just barely satisfactory. You have to press your eye right against it to see the full frame. My Leica finders (21, 24, 28, 50 and 135) have much better eye relief. The Leica finders are less expensive than new Voigtina's if you do not mind user cosmetics.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), November 15, 2001.

The Cosina Voigtlander 50mm finder IS definitely 1:1, so that you can keep both eyes open at the same time and see the frame lines floating around in space. I like that effect a lot. Granted, the eye relief is not great. You can get a brand new one for $140 or less, including return privilege (in case the eye relief is not enough). The finish on the chrome one is quite good (I can't speak for the black one), and it should match your Leica nicely.

Regards,

-- John Morris (jtmorris@slb.com), November 15, 2001.

I have never used the Voigtina 50mm finder but according to their chief booster, it is not 1:1. If it is .9x, the eye will be able to correct the 10% differece in magnifications in the brain. This is why the M3 had a .91x finder. Anyhow, here is the page where Stephen talks about the Bessa R SE:

http://www.cameraquest.com/voig101.htm

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), November 15, 2001.

OK. But if it's not 1:1, then it's so close that you can wave it around in front of your eye and not see any difference as you look either through it or around it. It does the floating frame lines trick perfectly. I bought mine to put on a Retina IIa (which has a small, dim finder), and it completely changed the way that camera feels.

-- John Morris (jtmorris@slb.com), November 15, 2001.

SBOOI's the one you want to get. Even a beat up one is quite functional if the glass is clean.

The 100% brightline is really something else, and besides, if you really get used to it, you avoid eyestrain, relative to a 90% finder.

Parallax is a big issue, especially if you are doing portraiture relatively close-up. Framing does get a bit ragged, no matter how much you practise mental compensation.

So frame loose, and watch yourself bagging those facial expressions and decisive moments. And then you can worry if your focusing was as precise as your timing :-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), November 15, 2001.

I don't know about the Voigtlander, but the SBOOI shows a dotted line to alert you to the parallax at close distance shooting.

I grew up with your IIIa and SBOOI combo, that view finder got me hooked on Leica M forever. I'd love to buy such an outfit again.

-- Hans Berkhout (berkhout@cadvision.com), November 15, 2001.

The dotted lines are there as a guide on the SBOOI, but they are an approximation. In practice, YMMV.

However, as an aside, both the Voigtlander and the Leica equivalent 90mm viewfinders have distance scales that tip the viewfinder to restore fairly accurate parallax correction. But not as accurate as the viewfinder, which of course is less accurate than real life. Or a Nikon F camera.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), November 15, 2001.

How about one of these: ; I have one and it's bright and relatively cheap.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), November 20, 2001.

Damn! These: http: //www.camerasrussian.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv? Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R001&Product_Code=V01&Category_Code=0044;

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), November 20, 2001.