Viewfinder ideas

[richard littlewood]

I've just started to cobble together a few bits to make (touch wood) a working camera. The lens is a 47 f8 super angulon, the body is an Ensign ranger (6x9) and helical focus via a stripped down and heavily messed with zuico 50mm f1.8. I sort of know all this works because last year I did more or less the same only using a 65mm angulon. For the 65mm camera making a decent viewfinder was quite easy, a few lens elements stuck in to an alloy tube about an inch diameter and inch and a half long that fitted neatly on top of the camera. Problem is I dont know if I can do the same, to give a much wider angle of view for the 47 lens. I suppose one of those Leica viewfinders would be just the job, but what a price! I'm inclined to try to make a simple frame finder that hinges up for viewing somewhere over the lens, with a much smaller eye hole at the back of the camera.
I get a bit over picky with viewfinders and semi-obsessed with the accuracy of the edges (coming from years of ground glass) so I would really welcome any ideas as to how I might get an easy to use, accurate, non bulky and non expensive view of what the lens sees - I dont mind fiddling with lens elements, but what would give that wide a view? something from a broke video cam - I dont know. Any ideas?

 

[John Koehrer]

The frame & peephole is the quickest in your bag o' tricks. What about the Voigtlander viewers for the WA's?

 

[3Dfan]

I've heard of people using the security peepholes made for a door for a viewfinder.

 

[fotoman]

A 47mm lens on 6x9 format is almost identical to a 20mm lens on 35mm format. You could use a Voigtlander 21mm Viewfinder... it would show a tiny bit more than your actual image area. Cameraquest sells them for $128... http://cameraquest.com/voigtacc.htm

 

[richard littlewood]

Voigtlander finders - brilliant idea, and I really had no idea they existed! I decided to look into the 21mm finder and found that it cropped the image top and bottom, and I know this may sound a little odd but the view through the finder was too 'big' for my liking. So I've bought a 15mm Voigtlander finder that no doubt I'll mask down so it will see exactly what will be shot on film. Also the image will be a bit smaller and no bright lines in it either.
The camera body is finished, and I'm really chuffed with it, all it needs is the finder and a roll of film. I'll post a pic of it when it is totally done.