Mamiya 7 External Viewfinder Mystery

Long time lurker and late night listener. Finally joined the community.

I will have a Mamiya 7 43mm hot shoe external viewfinder being delivered tomorrow. Or so I believe it’s for the 43mm. It’s missing the branding nameplate that identifies it as such. So it is possible the seller could have mistaken the 50mm viewfinder as the 43mm viewfinder.

Anyone with both viewfinders… What other discernible differences are there between the two viewfinders beside the size of the framelines? Maybe the parallax correction or pano tick marks? I won’t have two viewfinders side by side to compare together. I doubt I could tell the 7mm difference by only looking at one viewfinder.

Example photos of 43mm vs 50mm nameplate/branding:

I can't help you: I have only the 43. But I can tell you that half the time I don't even put the external viewfinder on when using the lens. I know the lens exceeds my widest lines, and I ballpark it. That doesn't really help you with the purchase, because I'm sure you want a matched pair, at the very least for eventual resale purposes. But in practice at least, it doesn't much matter.

The eye cups are different - the 43mm has thicker ridges and is more tunnel shaped. you can see it in the photo you posted but I'll show you a close up of mine:

Paul Ozzello said:

The eye cups are different - the 43mm has thicker ridges and is more tunnel shaped. you can see it in the photo you posted but I'll show you a close up of mine:

View attachment 311944

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Wow that is quite different, thank you. I was so focused on the frame lines being different that I missed the obvious eye piece difference even in my own photos.

bags27 said:

I can't help you: I have only the 43. But I can tell you that half the time I don't even put the external viewfinder on when using the lens. I know the lens exceeds my widest lines, and I ballpark it. That doesn't really help you with the purchase, because I'm sure you want a matched pair, at the very least for eventual resale purposes. But in practice at least, it doesn't much matter.

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Appreciate the insight none the less.

How much different are the framelines of the 43mm viewfinder vs the actual output of the 43mm lens? Is there a much more pronounced difference than the observed composition difference of the 65mm or 80mm against their respective frame lines?

C_Rolo said:

Appreciate the insight none the less.

How much different are the framelines of the 43mm viewfinder vs the actual output of the 43mm lens? Is there a much more pronounced difference than the observed composition difference of the 65mm or 80mm against their respective frame lines?

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Truthfully, that's not how I approach the lens. I often just use the RF to ballpark the center and content of the photo. Once I have the actual photograph in photoshop, I trim/crop to taste. I do the same with my 15mm and 21 mm on my 35mm camera. I probably miss some interesting angles/details.

But: 1. the viewfinder is an extra piece of equipment that needs to be accounted for; 2. if I'm using a superwide for anything other than on a tripod where the clock stops and I have time, I make mistakes shooting quickly and going between RF for focus checking SS/aperture settings, and viewfinder for composition. I'd rather err on the composition side than the technical side. Others might err the opposite way, of course.

Hi, I just bought a 43mm without the View Finder. Does anyone know where I can buy one separately? Seems pretty hard to find as a stand alone. Any help is greatly appreciated!