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Anyone ever use a loupe on an RZ WLF?

S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Hey All,

I'm about to try out some different diopter strengths for my RZ IID WLF viewfinder magnifier, as focussing is not quite as easy as I'd anticipated. There is a -1.5 on it currently, but I don't use anything but +1 reading glasses (when I use glasses at all).

Got me to thinking, though... anyone ever use a loupe (ala large format) on the WLF of an RZ? Marcus Klinko has a handheld magnifier with a little "cozy" sewn around it to act as a dark cloth of sorts.

you can kind of see it here:


There are youtube videos as well that show his set-up.

I shoot on a tripod basically all the time with a fairly narrow region of focus and was wondering what a 4x loupe on the screen would be like.

Any thoughts?
Shelby
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Thanks Yair... I've seen those. How are they different than the pop-up magnifier on the WLF? Is it just that the light on the viewfinder is better controlled or is the magnification higher?

Much appreciated!
 
bensonga

bensonga

Well-known member
A

Audii-Dudii

Active member
Although I have a WLF for my Contax 645, I prefer to use my Mamiya 3.5X loupe instead, as it's slightly brighter and has less distortion. I just remove the prism finder and hold it in place against the mounting clips on the body ... works great!

Anyway, the reason I mention this is Mamiya also made a 3X loupe that covers the 6x7 format. You can see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/32698055@N07/5795720824/in/photostream/ and I suspect it will work every bit as well as the 3.5X / 645 loupe does for me.

Unfortunately, neither of these loupes are available new from Mamiya, but they do turn up on eBay fairly regularly, both NOS and used, and for much, much less than Mamiya used to get for them.
 
itsskin

itsskin

New member
Here is what I use for precise focusing. Magnifier comes with diopter adjustment and gives high magnification of center area. The good thing you can flip it away very fast. Usually, I start without magnifier, compose, then focus with magnifier on the eyes, remove magnifier, correct composition and shoot. Even handheld gives me 95% dead-on focus rate with split prism mamiya focusing screen.
Quick snaps of setup:

 
J

JorisV

New member
I also own a Panasonic GH2 camera, it offers a magnified view with x5 times magnification for manual focusing.
I often wish I had similar capabilites on MF cameras...
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Ben Rubinstein said:
Is there no pop up loupe built into the RZ's WLF?
Click to expand...
There is, and it works really well for me for close distance portraits... if there is a catchlight in the eyes, I can focus on it usually quite well... but I'm having real troubles at middle and far distances. I'm wondering if I have the wrong diopter strength magnifier installed.
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
I thought about going this direction. Maybe I will.

I just LOVE shooting with the WLF, though.

itsskin said:
Here is what I use for precise focusing. Magnifier comes with diopter adjustment and gives high magnification of center area. The good thing you can flip it away very fast. Usually, I start without magnifier, compose, then focus with magnifier on the eyes, remove magnifier, correct composition and shoot. Even handheld gives me 95% dead-on focus rate with split prism mamiya focusing screen.
Quick snaps of setup:

Click to expand...
 
M

mvirtue

New member
Shelby Lewis said:
There is, and it works really well for me for close distance portraits... if there is a catchlight in the eyes, I can focus on it usually quite well... but I'm having real troubles at middle and far distances. I'm wondering if I have the wrong diopter strength magnifier installed.
Click to expand...
Cool, well not really, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has this issue. If the distance is between 5-10' I can nail it, beyond that I'm close but off.
 
itsskin

itsskin

New member
bensonga said:
Hi Shelby. I found this info on an item that was for sale back in August. Needless to say, I have no connection with this seller.

http://photo.net/gc/view-one?classified_ad_id=1248730

It does look interesting.......and they do seem hard to come by.....rare or "very rare", I'm not sure. :)

KEH has one for sale that is for the RZ, but would need to be modified for the RZII.

http://www.keh.com/camera/Mamiya-RZ-Prisms-and-Viewfinders/1/sku-RZ130000005000?r=FE

Here's a PDF description of it.

Gary
Click to expand...
How to compose for full view with this? Need to be removed to see, what you are really shooting?
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
mvirtue said:
Cool, well not really, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has this issue. If the distance is between 5-10' I can nail it, beyond that I'm close but off.
Click to expand...
Same here... and always to the front. I never back-focus at middle and longer distances, always to the front. I almost begin to believe that my focus screen is out of adjustment, and then I'll shoot a bunch of closer head shots with even shallower DoF, and I'll nail those.

The past series that I posted on the "Favs" thread I ended up tethering just to make sure I had good focus. Was a real help.
 
itsskin

itsskin

New member
BTW, Marcus's setup is fixed on tripod. And I remember you also do this. BUT. You try this trick handheld :)
No way :)
 
F

fotografz

Well-known member
First thing to check is the diopter strength in the WLF Shelby.

I use the same flip finder on the metered prism for critical focus, but it's not a very spontaneous way of working even with the RZ.

-Marc
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Will do... thanks Marc.

fotografz said:
First thing to check is the diopter strength in the WLF Shelby.

I use the same flip finder on the metered prism for critical focus, but it's not a very spontaneous way of working even with the RZ.

-Marc
Click to expand...
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Another question... with the old RZ chimney finder still fit and work as a finder on the newer model, but without AE function? I don't want the AE function, and would be fine with an unmodified older one if, indeed, it still fits and will work as a "dumb" finder.

It's the magnification I need.
 
S

SergeiR

New member
I dont like AE chimney on RZIID. Its exactly same in the end as WLF for me, except for added bulk and sacrifice of portability. And i think rubber piece is torn off from mine after a bit. But i have one if anyone desperately want it :)

Shelby, which focusing screen do you use?

(also yes, you need to correct diopter.. -1.5 i think is default one, for 20/20 vision. You can simply try to replace it with any magifying glass piece from book store, btw)
 
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