Preference for Barnack 50mm lens

cliveh · Jun 24, 2023

Don Heisz said:
Wouldn't be the first time. Anyway, it's a relative pile of crap - there would definitely be better options for a shoe-mounted finder, from what I've read about it.
But yet another comment where you refuse to say what's so good about it.

OK, the VIDOM finder allows you to view at various focal lengths from 35mm to 135mm, but as I only use 50mm that is not how I use it. It also allows you to view the image laterally reversed left-right and right-left as stated in one of your previous posts (thus allowing you to print the negative shiny side down instead of shiny side up). But the best thing about the VIDOM finder, is that it allows you to view the image upside down as you would on large format cameras. Thus it is a fantastic aid to composition. I could show you various pictures of HCB using this devise on his camera in his 20's and in his 50's. So will that do?

Don_ih · Jun 25, 2023

cliveh said:
thus allowing you to print the negative shiny side down instead of shiny side up

Well, you can do that, anyway.

There are some benefits to being able to assess the scene from different orientations, I guess - which you get used to using a large format camera (after a while, you stop being surprised when you look at the ground glass). But the vidom doesn't flip the image over, just laterally (so, if you hold the camera sideways, the view is upside-down, but not if you hold the camera in landscape orientation). Using it requires moving the camera in an unintuitive way when framing a scene.
As for Cartier-Bresson, there seem to be a lot more photos of him not using a viewfinder than of using one.

I guess he gave up on it after a while.

cliveh · Jun 25, 2023

Don Heisz said:
Well, you can do that, anyway.

There are some benefits to being able to assess the scene from different orientations, I guess - which you get used to using a large format camera (after a while, you stop being surprised when you look at the ground glass). But the vidom doesn't flip the image over, just laterally (so, if you hold the camera sideways, the view is upside-down, but not if you hold the camera in landscape orientation). Using it requires moving the camera in an unintuitive way when framing a scene.
As for Cartier-Bresson, there seem to be a lot more photos of him not using a viewfinder than of using one.
View attachment 342230 View attachment 342231
View attachment 342232 View attachment 342233
View attachment 342234 View attachment 342235

I guess he gave up on it after a while.

The VIDOM finder does flip the image upside down as well as lateral inversion and my evidence about the VIDOM and HCB is not just from photographs of HCB, but accounts from members of MAGNUM.

MattKing · Jun 25, 2023

Argumentative posts deleted - please post with a "view" to civility.

Don_ih · Jun 25, 2023

MattKing said:
Argumentative posts deleted - please post with a "view" to civility.

Ok. Get real. This is a little disagreement between me and @cliveh and, frankly, I think we can both handle it. We don't need to be mollycoddled.

MattKing · Jun 25, 2023

Don Heisz said:
Ok. Get real. This is a little disagreement between me and @cliveh and, frankly, I think we can both handle it. We don't need to be mollycoddled.

The Private Conversation utility is ideal for this - that way the rest of us don't have to endure the silliness as well!
Any further comments about moderation should be directed to us moderators directly outside of normal threads.

Don_ih · Jun 26, 2023

Well, this conversation has been effectively killed.

Preference for Barnack 50mm lens

cliveh

Don_ih

cliveh

MattKing

Moderator

Don_ih

MattKing

Moderator

Don_ih

Preference for Barnack 50mm lens

cliveh

Don_ih

cliveh

MattKing

Moderator

Don_ih

MattKing

Moderator

Don_ih

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency