I am looking for advice, I read an article about Ben Shaun, who was an artist working in New York in the 30's,using a right angle finder on his M series Leica camera to take pictures of people beside him, without being noticed, These photos became the basis for his paintings. Which finder should I look for to do this, and how does it work/mount on the camera? thanks, Alan

-- Alan Stein (acstein@e-velocity.net), March 15, 2002

Answers

I've seen pictures of Ben Shahn (note spelling) using this. It looks pretty unwieldy-- you still have to look through the viewfinder scope, after all (it's not a waist level finder). In this day and age, most people know that if a lens is being pointed at them, chances are likely that they are being photographed! That's why people would rather practice hip shooting instead.

Anway, a thread on photo.net about this topic pointed to this as a possible solution:

The Adorama 90 degree scope. Don't know anything about it. If it doesn't fit naturally you could probably black tape it on to the top plate if it's not too big.

Chances are that whatever you find will be quite costly if it works with a Leica body. So why not buy a used Yashica T4 Super instead? It's got a nifty viewfinder window on the top that allows for waist level shooting. And it's about half the size of an M-body and lens. Good luck.

-- JM Woo (wooismyid@delethis.yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

Alan:

AND, the lens on the T4 is a Zeiss Tessar. Absent a bit of corner fall-off wide open, the lens is "almost as good" as a Leica 35mm f3.5 Elmar.

No Charge

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Leica made a right angle finders for the 50 lenses. The waist level models are rare and came in models to accomodate the 50mm, 35mm and 73mm focal lengths (AUFSU, AYOOC, AHOOT). There is also a right angle finder (right angles to subject) that is more commonly available for 50mm lens (WINKO, WINTU, WOOLD, WOOSU).

Cosina/Voigtlander have right angle finders for the 15mm, 21mm and 25mm lenses:

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

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), March 15, 2002.

Also, see the detailed notes I have on accessory shoe waist-level finders in the FAQ at nemeng.com/leica/ 027b.shtml

BTW, the VC 90-degree finders only work if you put your eye right up to them, so you will still have the camera near your face (& thus a dead give away you're taking photos).

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), March 15, 2002.