Mamiya 645 pro prism finder difference?

[hnrh2]

Does anyone can tell me the difference between the mamiya prism finder and the 'sport finder' (the one with a cylindrical eyepiece)? What matters to me are
mettered or not and how is the view in the finder: any difference?
Thanks in adv.
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H.

 

[MattKing]

There are actually three Mamiya 645 Pro prism finders - five if you include the prism finders that were available for the earlier Super bodies, but work fine on the Pro bodies.

There is the FK402 AE finder which has the cylindrical eyepiece. It is more of a penta-mirror construction than a true penta-prism - the corners show some distortion. It offers a meter and auto-exposure. Technically it was never offered separately, but instead only as part of the SVX kit.

Then there are the FP401 and FE401 prisms, with the FP401 being without a meter, while the FE401 offers a meter and auto-exposure. They are true prisms and relatively distortion free.

Finally there are the finders for the Super - the AE Prism finder N (similar to the FE401) and the non-metered Prism finder N (similar to the FP401).

 

[hnrh2]

Thanks for the info.
Best

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[L Gebhardt]

As Matt said there is some distortion in the FK402. The display inside for the autoexposure is also more basic, only a dot for correct exposure and a single up or down arrow for over/under. There is also no choosing between spot or average (or auto). Despite all this at still works ok.

As far as I know the sport finder was also part of the waist level finder, which came with a mask roughly frame for different lenses.

I have a Pro TL for sale with one of each of the prisms if you are interested. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)