Angle Finders?

[bvy]

I know that the Leica's have right angle finders (Helen Levitt used one fifty or so years ago), but a Leica's a little bit out of my price range.

Are there any inexpensive 35mm compacts or rangefinders (new or old) that have angle finders made for them or that can be adapted to them? I'm thinking along the lines of the Olympus XA series, but I don't think it makes sense to talk about angle finders for those cameras.

Just looking for ideas, really. Something like this would be ideal for street photography (for me anyway). Thanks.

 

[Joachim_I]

The Yashica T4 Super (or T5 in Europe and Asia) had a built-in right-angle waist-level finder.

 

[Hamster]

Why does it need to be rangefinders or compacts? Your application doesn;t allow mirror blackout?

If size is your concern, an Icarex 35 TM with waist level finder is just as compact a a big-ish rangefiner! Also some of the Exaktars. Both are cheap!

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

RA finders can be found on:

Not 35mm:

• Hordes of Kodak box Brownies and their kin
• Old Kodak folders
• The Vest Pocket model takes 127 film and is probably the most practical of the old folders - the Series III Specials had good lenses on them

35mm:

• Agfa Flexilette and Optima Reflex
• Bolsey C22
• Zeiss Contaflex, can't really recommend one ...
• For fools needing separation from their money there is the Blackbird fly

 

[John Koehrer]

And if you have an SLR you can rip a finder off an old folder & stick it on your accessory shoe.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

And any 35mm SLR with a removable finder: Nikon professional series F, F2, F3, F4 ...; Canon F-1; Minolta XK; Asahiflex; Pentax LX; Full size Exaktas, most Exas; Older Prakticas and Edixas; Praktina; Beseler Topcon; Miranda; Icarex 35 & 35TM (not 35S) as already mentioned.

 

[BobD]

Are there any inexpensive 35mm compacts or rangefinders (new or old) that have angle finders made for them or that can be adapted to them?

By "angle finder" I presume you mean a waist level finder which can be
viewed at a distance from the eye. But, there is also such a thing as a "right
angle finder" used with SLRs which must be put to the eye for use.

There are certainly lots of SLRs and TLRs with waist level finders or right
angle finder attachments but for compacts or rangefinders? That's a tough
one.

If you want a WLF type finder you could possibly adapt one of those simple
WLFs found on many Kodak folders by attaching it to a flash shoe and
mounting that to a RF camera. Or, make one with a small mirror. It would
be crude and you'd have to practice with it to get the framing right, I
suppose, and you couldn't use it focus obviously.

Any particular reason you don't want to use an SLR?

 

[dynachrome]

The less expansive and older angle finders will show a laterally reversed image. The Konica Angle Magnifinder shows a laterally correct image. You should be able to adapt it to other cameras. Greg Weber (Mr. Konica) may have one. You can reach him at gweber@webercamera.com.

 

[bvy]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm new to film cameras (coming from digital), so bear with me while I ask dumb questions. I've been doing pinhole and lomo stuff with 35mm up until now.

I'm interested in cameras with right angle finders or waist level finders. SLR's and TLR's are fine, and I'll certainly come back to these recommendations. But at the moment, I'm interested in something light and small and discreet -- something that will fit in a coat pocket.

Someone recommended the Yashica T4 Super, and that's pretty close to what I'm looking for. My concern is that it's fully automatic, so I don't know how much control I'll have over exposure (e.g. I like a fast shutter). But I'm already looking around for one, and I'd be curious to hear more recommendations along these lines. (And I'm still exploring the others, so thank you all again.)