miatadan Posted June 23, 2013 Share #1 Â Posted June 23, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I really do not like using lcd on back of camera to take photos... Maybe I am too old school. The reason I had purchased Nikon dslrs in past was to have optical viewfinder but never liked large bodies or having a lot of lenses. Â Since my preferred focal length is 28mm , I am thinking the Zeiss viewfinder Z1 for 25mm ZM lens has framelines for 28mm be good to use with the X Vario. Â Maybe I am only one thinking of using optical viewfinder with X Vario?ZEISS IKON VIEWFINDER Â Â Â thoughts on this? Â Dan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 23, 2013 Posted June 23, 2013 Hi miatadan, Take a look here using optical viewfinder for X Vario. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
dkCambridgeshire Posted June 23, 2013 Share #2 Â Posted June 23, 2013 Thoughts .... Â Very expensive; might require a lot of getting used to ref parallax; an electronic Olympus VF2 is cheaper and might be cheaper still when the VF4 becomes available. The VF4 is likely to be better than the VF2 - but more expensive. If and when the VF4 is available there might be a lot of used VF2s listed on Ebay and by dealers. Â If you really want to use a 28mm optical viewfinder there are probably others available which cost less than the Zeiss example. Â dunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richam Posted June 23, 2013 Share #3 Â Posted June 23, 2013 I've been wondering about this too. I dislike EVF and would prefer an optical finder. Is there one that covers the zoom range somehow, e.g. with framelines or zoom adjustments? Wish the X Vario had a built in zoom finder like the CM zoom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted June 23, 2013 Share #4 Â Posted June 23, 2013 I've been wondering about this too. I dislike EVF and would prefer an optical finder. Is there one that covers the zoom range somehow, e.g. with framelines or zoom adjustments? Wish the X Vario had a built in zoom finder like the CM zoom. Â Â The Linhof 'Multi Optical Finder' might adapt but I'm not sure if its foot will fit a regular camera shoe. Prices vary depending on accessory masks offered. One well known Scottish dealer has four of them listed. Â dunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptZoom Posted June 23, 2013 Share #5 Â Posted June 23, 2013 richam, There are universal accessory optical view finders available. I know Leica makes one, and I think Voigtlander also makes one. However you would have to dial in the focal length for each frame, making the work flow tedious. If OVFs are your thing, the XV seems to be a poor choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruhayat Posted June 24, 2013 Share #6 Â Posted June 24, 2013 There used to be a few optical viewfinders with multiple framelines around. I have a yellowing Helios that gives 35-85-135mm framelines, and a Ricoh that gives 21-28mm. Both work well enough with my film Ms. If someone came up with something that goes 28-35-70 that would be nice, and useful with a large number of cameras, I would think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom0511 Posted June 24, 2013 Share #7  Posted June 24, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I really do not like using lcd on back of camera to take photos...Maybe I am too old school. The reason I had purchased Nikon dslrs in past was to have optical viewfinder but never liked large bodies or having a lot of lenses.  Since my preferred focal length is 28mm , I am thinking the Zeiss viewfinder Z1 for 25mm ZM lens has framelines for 28mm be good to use with the X Vario.  Maybe I am only one thinking of using optical viewfinder with X Vario?ZEISS IKON VIEWFINDER    thoughts on this?  Dan  Hi Dan, I also dislike EVF, but the OVF on a x vario has 2 disadvantage: 1) you don't know where you exactly focus when looking through theoptical viewfinder. Also the x vario doesn't have the led which shows when AF is ready (unlike the x2 which has that light). 2) You can check focus if you like to focus manually  It could work well If you do y lot of zone focusing, which could work quite well for 28mm fov. I just got a used 35mm OVF (Leica x1) and thought I would give it a try with the Vario. But I guess in the end the EVF is more flexible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_l Posted June 24, 2013 Share #8  Posted June 24, 2013 Voigtlander Bessa RF Accessories  a $200 finder that is bright, clear, and solid. I like it better than the Leica or Zeiss finders. I used one on my Digilux 2- perfect for zone focus, and the D2 had a focus confirm beep, which was helpful for auto focus...plus you get pretty good at estimating where in the finder the other focal lengths fall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted July 3, 2013 Share #9  Posted July 3, 2013 Thoughts .... Very expensive; might require a lot of getting used to ref parallax; an electronic Olympus VF2 is cheaper and might be cheaper still when the VF4 becomes available. The VF4 is likely to be better than the VF2 - but more expensive. If and when the VF4 is available there might be a lot of used VF2s listed on Ebay and by dealers.  If you really want to use a 28mm optical viewfinder there are probably others available which cost less than the Zeiss example.  dunk  Voigtländer 28mm viewfinder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhsimmonds Posted July 6, 2013 Share #10 Â Posted July 6, 2013 The VF-4 is readily available now in the UK. I bought one today for my Oly OM-D E-M5! Â It is a superb piece of kit, having a 2.36 million dot viewfinder screen with it's own adjustable diopter eyepiece switch. It needed the very latest firmware update to my OM-D to work, but it has a very clear and large screen and with 90 degrees swivel movement to enable vertical viewing. Â I wonder how long it will take before Leica may upgrade the Vario's firmware to enable use of this very useful EVF? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted July 6, 2013 Share #11  Posted July 6, 2013 The VF-4 is readily available now in the UK. I bought one today for my Oly OM-D E-M5! It is a superb piece of kit, having a 2.36 million dot viewfinder screen with it's own adjustable diopter eyepiece switch. It needed the very latest firmware update to my OM-D to work, but it has a very clear and large screen and with 90 degrees swivel movement to enable vertical viewing.  I wonder how long it will take before Leica may upgrade the Vario's firmware to enable use of this very useful EVF?  Probably unlikely that Leica will upgrade the firmware until their own Leica badged version of the VF4 is available. And Leica will also have to upgrade firmware for the M240 and the X2. I wonder if the three firmware fixes will all be available on the same day - to avoid the inevitable 'my camera deserves it before your camera ' arguments.  And I wonder how much Leica's version of the VF4 will cost?  dunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhsimmonds Posted July 7, 2013 Share #12 Â Posted July 7, 2013 Dunk You are probably right. On the cost issue, you could always use the Oly VF-4! Â Alternatively just get the 12-35 (24-70) F2.8 mFT lens and put it an an OMD. Â This will give you a faster constant F2.8 high quality zoom, wider at the wide end, built in viewfinder and LCD, just as light and small to carry around. The big no, no of course is the basic fact that it doesn't sport that famous red dot! Â That doesn't seem to worry a growing number of LF members. Â Having said all of that I do think that the X-vario is a desirable bit of 'real estate'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted July 7, 2013 Share #13  Posted July 7, 2013 DunkYou are probably right. On the cost issue, you could always use the Oly VF-4!  Alternatively just get the 12-35 (24-70) F2.8 mFT lens and put it an an OMD.  This will give you a faster constant F2.8 high quality zoom, wider at the wide end, built in viewfinder and LCD, just as light and small to carry around. The big no, no of course is the basic fact that it doesn't sport that famous red dot!  That doesn't seem to worry a growing number of LF members.  Having said all of that I do think that the X-vario is a desirable bit of 'real estate'.  That's a fine solution if content with the 4/3 smaller format. Most X series users and M 240 users prefer the APS-C and FF formats.  The VF-4 finder is listed in the UK for £249.  The VF-2 is available for £189 but Leica's version ie the EVF-2 costs £360 .. that's 90% more than the Olympus VF-2.  Applying the same loading to the new VF-4 : 1.9 x £249 = £473  We should not be surprised if the Leica version is this expensive.  dunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpjansen Posted July 9, 2013 Share #14  Posted July 9, 2013 Hi Dan,I also dislike EVF, but the OVF on a x vario has 2 disadvantage: 1) you don't know where you exactly focus when looking through theoptical viewfinder. Also the x vario doesn't have the led which shows when AF is ready (unlike the x2 which has that light). 2) You can check focus if you like to focus manually  It could work well If you do y lot of zone focusing, which could work quite well for 28mm fov. I just got a used 35mm OVF (Leica x1) and thought I would give it a try with the Vario. But I guess in the end the EVF is more flexible.  Do not bother. The OVF is almost perfect for X1, probably less so for X2 (parallax, but then again you will rarely get close enough for this to really matter ) and will be more or less useless on the Vario unless you invest a lot time and effort.  My X1 is 6-2010 and was very decently (and quickly) serviced in 2012 in regard of sensor dust issues. If and when I buy a Vario I will most definitely buy an EVF. The weight, however, and the bulk It will take me most of the summer to make up my mind, probably.  Jos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBL Posted July 14, 2013 Share #15 Â Posted July 14, 2013 I would simply wait until Leica comes with a similar camera with a built in viewfinder. Simply unforgivable to make toys like that. A slower lens is one thing, but the lack of a finder is simply weird. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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