vario viewfinder M advantages and disadvantages

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Maybe this question has already been asked. I use the 24, as many of you may already know, a great deal, and I find that the plastic accessory viewfinder is very misleading when shooting at infinity, although quite accurate when shooting indoors. So my question is:

Would it make sense to use the new 21-24-28 vario viewfinder with the 24 lens at the 24 setting indoors or close up and at 21 when doing more landscapy things? Has anyone played around with it this way?

Optically I notice the vario finder has quite a lot of barrel distortion, more than the plastic finder, but that wouldn't worry me too much. But does it hoover up dust the way the plastic one does?

Thanks for any responses.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), April 18, 2002

Answers

i use the voigtlander 25mm frequently on a nikon rf (the lens is available in the nikon rf mount) and find that the 25mm finder is quite accurate for all purposes. it is also very brite and exhibits little distortion. you can buy it separately. it mite work well with your 24. i must say, however, that i never count on brite lines as precise framing tools. indeed, there are not designed to be used that way. rather, they provide a rough framing guide, usually showing about 80-85% of what will be on the neg. if you want an absolutely precise 100% VF, you need an F5.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), April 18, 2002.

I found the vario-finder to be more or less the same in use as the BL; that is accurate at about 3 meters, but slightly tight at infinity. I also *hated* the fact you had no framelines to see around the borders in the vario -- and IMO this exacerbated the infinity problem, so I eventually went back to the BL. I did not notice any untoward dust tendencies with the vario, but then again I didn't use it for more than about a month...

Cheers,

-- J Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), April 18, 2002.


I don't have the Leica Vario VF, but do have some experience using a variety of multifinders on my old Contax RFs. What exactly is the inaccuracy that you're experiencing w/the finder @ infinity? If it's a matter of insufficient coverage, as J. Flesher mentions, then it would seem that only a zoom-type finder would address that problem &, AFAIK, the Vario VF only adjusts for parallax (or does it compensate for field of view differences between close distances & infinity?).

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@NOSPAMcris.com), April 18, 2002.

Chris, I'm talking about the 21-24-28 zoom (or vario) finder. The idea is to use it only with the 24 lens, but vary the finder setting from 24 to 21 to acount for the wider field of view at longer focussing distances.

Anyway, it's probably too expensive for me.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), April 18, 2002.


Sorry, how careless of me. Sounds like the old Nikon variofocal or Tewe zoom finders. Too bad neither of them go as wide as 21mm, as they would likely be much cheaper than the new Leica VF.

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@NOSPAMcris.com), April 18, 2002.


My life with the 21-24-28 finder...

I'm using the C/V 21 lens. Its finder just kept on falling off the shoe of the BessaR. Almost lost it twice. The thing with the C/V finder is the plastic "spring" piece molded into its shoe. The could have done a better job it. So, I got the varifinder mostly because it locked in place. The weight extra is not noticable. The size difference does little to really matter.

The optical performance on the other hand... leaves something to be desired. Certainly the C/V brightline 21 was nicer to look through. The Leitz variable has a dimmer image, a "smaller" image, and no brightlines. I dont really mind not having the lines, but he eye relief is very tight. Also the dioptric adjustment changes - at 21 and 28 it seems a little farsighted, while at 24 it seems about right.

Having said all of that, I prefer it still. It stays put, it covers a host of lenses, and its reasonably accurate, giving a fair approximation of the result on film (for me anyway).

Charles

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), April 18, 2002.


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