viewfinders of Yashica 124G vs Mamiya C330

I have an RB67 and the viewfinder is so bright and beautiful.
I have recently picked up a Yashicamat 124G and the viewfinder is not as bright. I am wondering if all TLR's will have a dimmer VF that the RB? I assume this is due to the small viewing lens compared to the larger thru the lens view of the RB????

Hmm...my Rollie 6000 series (without the prism), Rollie TLR and Yashica 124G are all roughly the same with the original screens in all of them. Do you have an aftermarket screen in the RB? Maybe the screen and or mirror and or back of the view lens are hazy on your Yashica.

The relative brightness of two viewing screens will depend on a number of factors, including:

1) Aperture of the viewing lens;
2) original quality and condition of the viewing lens (vis a vis light transmission and contrast);
3) Original quality of the mirror in the viewing path;
5) Cleanliness and condition of the mirror in the viewing path;
6) Original quality of the focussing screen;
7) Cleanliness and condition of the focussing screen; and
8) The design of the (I'm assuming waist-level) finder.

Given the ages of the cameras being considered, cleanliness and condition of the component parts may be the most important factors.

FWIW, I find my Mamiya C330 and C220 waist-level finders fine with my 65mm and 80mm Mamiya lenses. The prism finder is fine when light levels are reasonable.

Matt

stradibarrius said:

I have an RB67 and the viewfinder is so bright and beautiful.
I have recently picked up a Yashicamat 124G and the viewfinder is not as bright. I am wondering if all TLR's will have a dimmer VF that the RB? I assume this is due to the small viewing lens compared to the larger thru the lens view of the RB????

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Up until a few days ago I had both an RB67 and a Yashica MAT 124G.

You are correct. The Yashica is dimmer. Considerably. But not all TLR's have a dimmer viewfinder. My memory is the Rolleiflex I had in my youth was quite bright, and same thing goes for the Mamiya 220 and 330 I had. I think the Yashica ground glass makes it dimmer. There's a fresnel lens that on the underside (if you take it apart to clean it you'll see what I'm saying) it has very deep grooves and I think that really causes the most dimming factor.

People buy the RB67 screens and cut them down for 6x6 TLR, and sell them as retro kits.

No commercial interest myself, I just see RB spares dissappearing... try PM to

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Noel

Are Rollei & Mamiya VF's the same or brighter? Are the screens interchangeable?

stradibarrius said:

Are Rollei & Mamiya VF's the same or brighter?

Click to expand...

variable it is not dependent solely on the screen

stradibarrius said:

Are the screens interchangeable?

Click to expand...

No but you can PM Rick and see how much he wants for whatever you need and as well ask delivery...

The people on another forum have bought one each, I canot comment as I dont seen to be sensitive to dim screens, and Ive not got one...

Noel