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Parallax tips with a barnack

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EASmithV

EASmithV

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Joined
Aug 22, 2008
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1,985
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Hey everyone,

So far I'm loving my barnack IIIA, and I love the idea of shooting a 35mm from 1938. One thing that bugs me a little, is parallax. I want to so more portraits with my summitar, and I want to keep the small form factor of the camera without adding extra junk to it.

Any tips or tricks on holdover? Like, for portraits at 1m with the 50mm lens, add .5 the size of the head to the side if the frame closest to the top of the camera or something?
 
Would it be better to just slap a nooky hesum or or something for portraits?
 
You could consider an accessory VF - maybe one of the turret finders with the parallax adjustment shoes. You can pop them on and off as you please...they don't take up much room in a pocket or carry bag.

The SBOOI or the CV 50mm brightline finders would be the best for general use, and they have crop marks in the brightlines to indicate parallax at about 3ft. They're also fairly small and add a great deal of usability compared to the squinty inboard VFs. Lastly, they are 1:1 so you can keep both eyes open.
 
I just use a bit of Kentucky Windage and point the camera up a bit when shooting around the 1m mark. I've never had any trouble with a 50mm.
 
the split second before you trip the shutter move the camera up so your eye is right behind the lens. works ok. hopefully subject doesn't blink at that instant.
 
You are always going to be off by the distance between your lens and viewfinder. For example on my Zorki, it is 4cm. So all pictures at all subject distances are off by 4cm. That is about the distance from an eye to the nose bridge on a human face. So as a rule of thumb I can center the picture on the right eye of the subject.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've had good luck with the little Soviet turret finder. It helped me get better at not using an external VF. Shooting with the Canon 7 helped me too since just watching the framelines move while i focused gave me a good idea of how much compensation was needed relative to the subject distance. Lots of practice and don't frame as tight so you have a margin for error. I still have a good bit of room for improvement......
 
As old Leica lenses don't focus that close, I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem.
 
I aim for the subject's right eye whenever I am within 6 feet. Seems to work pretty well.
 
It's field of view is somewhat dependent on eye position so your % query answer is 'variable'.
The M leicas have frame lines.
 
Another web reference says viewfinder coverage for 50mm is 100% at subject = 10 feet. Not sure at 3 feet or 300 feet. (?)
 
The Kodak Retina 1a has a "squinty finder".

With 50mm parallax isn't that big of deal, I would say, but when you get to 90mm and 135mm, it becomes very important - especially close-up.
 
Lamar said:
I've had good luck with the little Soviet turret finder. It helped me get better at not using an external VF. Shooting with the Canon 7 helped me too since just watching the framelines move while i focused gave me a good idea of how much compensation was needed relative to the subject distance. Lots of practice and don't frame as tight so you have a margin for error. I still have a good bit of room for improvement......
Click to expand...

Yes the Soviet revolver turret (actually a Contax design) with parallax compensation is the easiest route to go.
 
If you also have an M, or a film SLR, with the same length lens then you can do some experimentation from a tripod to a wall in order to see exactly how much you need to aim off. Tape a piece of head-sized paper on the wall, focus to the distance that your Barnack will be using, and swap the cameras to compare the Barnack-viewfinder scene to the actual details at the frame.* This is more immediate than shooting a test roll and keeping notes, and therefore quite likely a more effective learning experience.

If necessary, with either M or film SLR, you can open the back and make yourself a temporary viewing screen out of that greyish 'invisible' sticky tape in order to be certain of what would get on the film, if you wanted to be more precise.

Edit: * In case anyone is wondering, the Barnack design of camera does not have an opening film-back at the frame, else one wouldn't be using the alternate camera in such a way but just opening the back to make the comparison.
 
MartinP said:
If you also have an M, or a film SLR, with the same length lens then you can do some experimentation from a tripod to a wall in order to see exactly how much you need to aim off. Tape a piece of head-sized paper on the wall, focus to the distance that your Barnack will be using, and swap the cameras to compare the Barnack-viewfinder scene to the actual details at the frame.* This is more immediate than shooting a test roll and keeping notes, and therefore quite likely a more effective learning experience.

If necessary, with either M or film SLR, you can open the back and make yourself a temporary viewing screen out of that greyish 'invisible' sticky tape in order to be certain of what would get on the film, if you wanted to be more precise.

Edit: * In case anyone is wondering, the Barnack design of camera does not have an opening film-back at the frame, else one wouldn't be using the alternate camera in such a way but just opening the back to make the comparison.
Click to expand...

Your choices are:

  1. Take off the film back, place a piece of ground glass on the film plane, line up the camera, reload the film and shoot which as the previous posting states will not work.
  2. Back off from the subject.
  3. Get a single lens reflex camera.

:munch::munch:
 
So basically 10 feet and beyond I don't have to worry about parallax in the internal finder, anything closer I just need to pad the frame and guess? I might have to do the alternate camera thing just to get a better working knowledge of what it's like
 
Hatchetman said:
Another web reference says viewfinder coverage for 50mm is 100% at subject = 10 feet.
Click to expand...

Yes, one of the differences between Barnacks and M bodies is this approach: on Barnacks you have 100% on 10 feet, on M bodies frames are most accurate on closest distance. Because of focus breathing - on infinity frame lines are most inaccurate, but Leica says that in this way you always have all that is in frame in the negative as well. On Barnack on closest focus you will have one part in viewfinder but not on the negative.
 
attachment.php

this pic from https://obscurecamera.wordpress.com/ hints on the vertical and horizontal compensation.
 

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