The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Viewfinders with technical or "wide" cameras

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
When I used my Horseman, I found the viewfinder to be rather useless.
Does anybody find them useful?
thanks
-bob
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Bob - I use a Leica Frankenfinder on my Horseman. Borrow one and give it a try.

Here's a paste from an earlier post of mine: . . . . Here's where you M8 kit comes into play: pop you Frankenfinder on the Horseman. There is a slight bit of play which you can fix by putting a small patch of the fuzzy side of velcro on the bottom of the finder shoe - I've done this with all of my finders after loosing a Zeiss finder while carrying the m8 on a strap under my arm.

You'll need to make some mental adjustment for the difference in aspect ratio but the 24mm lines fairly accurately frame the unshifted 35mm; the 21mm lines fairly accurately frame the 10mm shift stitch, and the 18 mm lines fairly accurately frame the 17 mm stitch. . . . If you set up the camera tethered with liveview and the frankenfinder you can sort this out for yourself in a few minutes
 

jklotz

New member
I've got the Cambo one for my WDS. I go back and forth on weather or not I find it useful. I tend to use it in my hand to walk around to find my angle as much as I actually use it on the camera. Given the price I paid for it, if I had it to do over again, I'd do one of two things:

1) I'd just buy one of those directors viewers Michael Richman talked about (handheld - don't think they make a hot shoe mounted one) or

2) buy some Voightlander ones for a 1/10th of the price from cameraquest

That being said, I almost always shoot tethered. Your milage may vary....
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Hi Bob

I had at first thought I'd need a viewfinder when I was putting the RS1000 order together but decided to use a wait and see approach. I've now been on 2 shoots (South Rim and Redwoods) and have decided that I really don't need it nor do I miss not having it. I've been able to successfully shoot wide far away and very close up landscapes and find I just don't think I need it.

I thought about a director viewfinders and thought what the heck and ordered one just before I went to the redwoods (cost about $300) and forgot I had the thing in my bag for the first couple days!

I'm getting very good at visualizing what the lens will be picking up and only once in a while have had to reshoot to get what I really wanted to capture.

My advice to anyone is to try it without the viewfinder first before spending close to $1k on something you just might not need.

Don

btw - someone is attempting to sell a Cambo viewfinder for around $400 on LL and I have seen them on ebay for around $600.
 
Top