Voigtlander Kontur finder

[cliveh]

Can anyone suggest the best use for a Voigtlander Kontur finder? I thought it may be the ideal finder for panning shots, but not sure what subjects are ideal to this type of finder.

 

[snapguy]

swell

Well, it looks like a swell finder to me. Is it a finder for a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera, or for a 120 film-size camera? I understand they made both sizes.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I had one and quite liked it. They made two versions, one for 35mm and 6x9, the other for 6x6.

It's good any time you want to be aware of what's happening outside of the frame and excellent for shooting in dark spaces, because you aren't looking through any optical system except your eye.

 

[Kirks518]

I use it on my Prominent for just a better field of view, so I can see what's going on outside of where I'm pointing. I like it for just about every type of shooting, but it should be great for panning.

 

[tony lockerbie]

I also have the 35mm one for the Prominent. Works really well for seeing what is around the frame, so should be ideal for panning one would think.

 

[Spicy]

is it stressful on the eye? one would think staring at a wall 2cm from your eye would be taxing on your eye muscles, but i suppose you're more looking "through" it than "at" it...

my knowledge of anatomy/physiology isn't enough to qualify me..

 

[Trask]

I haven't found mine stressful to use. I find that my non-viewfinder eye focuses on the distant subject, and the viewfinder eye simply sees the projected frame floating around subject seen with the non-viewfinder eye -- I don't find my viewfinder eye stressing to focus in a different plane than the non-viewfinder eye.

For those not familiar with the Kontur, it's a viewfinder that, when you look through it, presents an entirely black "image" with framelines on the blackness in yellow or white. So you can't see a thing when you look through it with one eye. But when you keep both eyes open, your brain superimposes the framelines onto the what you see with your non-viewfinder eye (it's a 1:1 viewfinder).

 

[JPD]

is it stressful on the eye? one would think staring at a wall 2cm from your eye would be taxing on your eye muscles, but i suppose you're more looking "through" it than "at" it...

Finders with framelines have an optical system that makes the framelines seem further away than they really are, so you can see them clearly while looking at the subject you're photographing. The Kontur finder has such an optical system. You can use the Kontur finder for subjects from 1 m (3 ft) to infinity, so the apparent distance to the framlines is a compromise.

As Trask says, with the Kontur you keep both your eyes on the subject, and the framlines will just float there in your view for composing. Quite an ingenious finder!

 

[AgX]

They made a variety of models.
They include aspect ratio 1/1.5 (35mm and 50mm), and 1/1, maybe more. The 35mm version hardly can be used with glasses.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I had no problem using the version for a normal lens with the 35mm or 6x9 format with glasses.

Correction: From a private exchange, AgX said that he was referring to a 35mm focal length Kontur finder for the 35mm format. That one I haven't seen.