Best viewfinder for 24?

[skinnfell]

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I have a 24 elmarit, and voigtlander 25mm viewfinder. Love the lens, but the viewfinder is a piece of sh!t. I use glasses, and even without, I have to literally squeeze my eyeball into the finder to see all the frames. As a result my nosetip ends up smack in the middle of the cameras own VF. I know this comes with the territory, but there HAS to be better choices....

 

There are several other options.

- CV 21/25

- CV 15-35

- Zeiss 25

- Leica 24 plastic

- Leica 24 metal (current)

- Leica 16-28

- Leica 21-28

am I missing some?

 

I know both stephen gandy and ken rockwell have writeups on these but I am none the wiser for 24mm since neither writeup includes all VFs.

 

I am not looking for exact framing, but I am a photojournalist so quick shooting is the name of the game. Super-exact framing isnt critical but I do need to see whats going on in the entire frame.

Also, I would rather steer away from leica zoom finders unless they are the absolutely last resort, too bulky and too expensive. I have no plans of getting a wider lens than 24 any time in the foreseeable future.

 

Thanks to anyone who can provide input on this matter :-)

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[NZDavid]

I have both the Leica 24mm plastic finder and the Voigtländer 25. The Voigtländer is more robust and clear; the Leica is not noticeably better. I also have a Zeiss 21 which is superb. I haven't seen the Zeiss 25 but my expectation would be that this is the best finder for the excellent Elmarit 24-ASPH which is one of my favorite lenses.

[jaapv]

I have the Leica plastic, the Voigtlander, the Zeiss 25/28 and the Leica 21-24-28 The Leica 24 is the most practical to carry as it is the smallest, the Voigtlander broke its shoe within two weeks because of low-grade plastic and the Zeiss is very good but the framelines are inaccurate (too small). The best one is the Leica vario, but it has no framelines. It is a bit larger, but not that much, certainly less than two Zeiss finders.

[LeicaPassion]

I use the metal bright line finder. With glasses, I can easily see the entire field.

[algrove]

I like and use the Zeiss 25 finder which is very bright and gives a very good feel for the situation you are photographing. Just could not justify the Leica finder price compared to the Zeiss, even though I pay high prices for Leica glass.

 

As an aside, I also have the Zeiss 18 and 21 finders which I also use for the same reasons as above. For me, all are superb VF's.

[peter_n]

I also use the Elmarit and have three finders for some reason. The poorest and most expensive is the current all-metal Leica one. In the middle is a plastic CV 25mm which is OK, at least it's better than the Leica. The best and cheapest one is the 24mm all-metal Panasonic DMW-VF1 made for their Lumix camera. Less barrel distortion than the Leica, almost as bright as the CV.

[cbretteville]

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I like and use the Zeiss 25 finder which is very bright and gives a very good feel for the situation you are photographing. Just could not justify the Leica finder price compared to the Zeiss, even though I pay high prices for Leica glass.

 

As an aside, I also have the Zeiss 18 and 21 finders which I also use for the same reasons as above. For me, all are superb VF's.

 

+1, same three finders for the same reasons.

Carl

[Shadow Blaster]

I have the 24mm Elmar and use the new Leica 24mm finder and find it wonderful, the only issue I have is the additional frame lines for the M8/8.2 which are superfluous for me and only add clutter.

[LeicaPassion]

Others have written that some non-Leica viewfinders do not show the correct FOV due to an offset issue. You may wish to search the forum.

[cbretteville]

The offset of my Zeiss finders, designed for the Ikon as they are may very well be slightly inaccurate. Though in my experience a rangefinder is by design slightly inaccurate. I always give a little extra when framing with a stick-on finder regardless of make and I have not killed any shots after I swapped my Leica keyhole 24mm finder for the Zeiss. I don't need nor expect a super accurate finder when using 24/21/18mm lenses and the advantage of the Zeiss with a bright image and lots of eye relief outweighs the disadvantage of a slightly incorrect offset by miles.

Carl

[swamiji]

I am a frankenfinder fan. It covers 16-28 and has parallax correction for different distances, and a bubble float to help keep the camera level.

 

The down side is its large size, but I only need one for all the different focal lengths. I just dial in what is on my camera.

[lars_bergquist]

I am using the old Leica plastic finder – with a 25mm Biogon! So what? Accessory finders are not that accurate (and the 24mm Elmar ASPH is close to 25mm, in fact). I use the new metal finder for my 21mm Super-Elmar, and a Zeiss finder for my 18mm Distagon. All are good and useful.

 

The over-sighted old man

[gberger]

Another vote for the Zeiss 25/28 finder. If you're shooting handheld, the offset and exact framing won't be an issue. If you're using a tripod for deliberate shots, just use the outer edges of the 25 lines for reference As explained above, at distance, the 24/2.8 is closer to 25mm. IMO, you'll be hard-pressed to discern the difference - - and the eyestrain incurred by the other finders isn/t there.

[skinnfell]

Thanks for all replies. Looks like I am going to have to order me a Zeiss 25.

Slight inaccuracies in framing would be offset by the smaller frame.

Rather have too much in the picture than too little!

 

I do do some architecture but mostly on a tripod at f11 for DOF. Then, accurate framing is by lcd display anyways.

 

Thanks to everybody who replied :-)