SLR's with waist level viewing?

[Ian Grant]

KW manufactured the Praktina's not VEB Pentacon.
missing is the VEB Pentacon Super

Ian

 

[dynachrome]

There were Rollei and Yashica TLRs with 35mm adapters. These were OK for vertical composition but awkward for horizontal composition. Both had waist level finders standard. There are 35mm backs for the Bronica ETR and SQ series cameras. I have the 35W back for the ETR cameras. It has the same 24X56 image area as the W back for the SQ cameras. I read somewhere that there was a prototype 35mm back for the GS-1 but that the camera went out of production before it could be manufactured. Some people have rigged up adapters which look like Rolliekins for other medium format and large format cameras.

 

[eclarke]

Geez. I don't think you could beat an F5....EC

 

[BobD]

Zeiss original Contaflex, Agfa Flexilette, Bolsey C and those plastic TLR things that Freestyle sells

 

[narsuitus]

Nicholas Lindan,

Thanks for the very useful summary.

 

[BrianL]

The Leica Visoflex converts a rangefinder to an SLR for macro and micro photogrpahy so, I'd not quite class it with the rest. A neat tool for the rangefider crowd but not practical for those into close up work on a regular basis unless you have a dedicated Leica setup. I've used mine maybe a half dozen times in 20 years. Does work nicely with the metered Leicas. If I were a regular user, I'd invest in a M5 as the most practical body. I use mine on the CL.

 

[AgX]

The Visoflex accessory consists to my understanding of the mirror box and a detachable prism unit. By detaching the latter one would get a kind of waist level finder.
Although only for some special shortbuilt tele-lenses (or for macro work).

 

[wotalegend]

There were Rollei and Yashica TLRs with 35mm adapters. These were OK for vertical composition but awkward for horizontal composition. Both had waist level finders standard. There are 35mm backs for the Bronica ETR and SQ series cameras. I have the 35W back for the ETR cameras. It has the same 24X56 image area as the W back for the SQ cameras. I read somewhere that there was a prototype 35mm back for the GS-1 but that the camera went out of production before it could be manufactured. Some people have rigged up adapters which look like Rolliekins for other medium format and large format cameras.

If we're talking about 35mm capabilities of MF cameras, there is a 35mm back for the Mamiya 645 Super, Pro, and Pro TL series. I have one which mostly sits idle in the cupboard because Mamiya (foolishly in my opinion) passed on the opportunity to make the image area 24x56 instead of a boring 24x36. Their idea of "panoramic" is to provide a slide to fit in the dark slide slot which has a 13x36 hole cut in it. Whoop-de-do!!

 

[BrianL]

You could remove the prism but the frosted viewfinder makes it all but impossible to view and there is no hood available, sadly. I guess one could rig up a hood to minimize or eliminate light from hitting it similar to the hood for the Rolleiflex. It can mount either a standard Leica lens or some lenses had detachable elements and were specifically designed to work with the unit.

 

[Vilk]

my own two копейки

i honestly tried--it looked like a good idea for street so i wanted to make to work. the DW-1 on F2 was for all practical purposes unusable. the only advantage over simply taking off the regular prism was the flip-up magnifying glass--but then, if you're prepared to squint up close, the angle attachment is much more useful (i use it for slide copying, macro, tripod work, etc.)

DW-2 is good, but definitely more for studio than street

overall, if you're also just thinking "it looks like a good idea" with no specific use case in mind, try it out before you commit. these finders are easy to buy, hard to move later--and for a reason i guess

 

[Ian Grant]

Meyer made a reflex view finder for Leica and Contax cameras I think before the Visoflex.

Ian

 

[Someonenameddavid]

The Leica Visoflex converts a rangefinder to an SLR for macro and micro photogrpahy so, I'd not quite class it with the rest. A neat tool for the rangefider crowd but not practical for those into close up work on a regular basis unless you have a dedicated Leica setup. I've used mine maybe a half dozen times in 20 years. Does work nicely with the metered Leicas. If I were a regular user, I'd invest in a M5 as the most practical body. I use mine on the CL.

I use my *gasp* Bessa T on my visoflex and it works just fine, just like a leica with TTL metering

David

 

[tomalophicon]

There's one in the classifieds right now.

 

[BrianL]

My primary camera is a Bronica ETRS MF. I have the 35N back for it and much of the time use the waist level finder with it. End result is a 35mm slr with wlf. The ETRS makes for a really fine 35mm camera.

 

[VaryaV]

Both my Exakta (pre-war) and Exa have waist-level finders. There are still lots of them available on Keh and really cheap too. The Exakta is a one of my favorite cameras and a beauty to both look and hold.