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Leica 28mm Bright-line Viewfinder


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I've used this gem on my Fuji X70 and now my QP. It's a Lumix 24mm micro four thirds frame finder, which matches 28mm perfectly. Bright, good design,  metal, not plastic. About $75 on eBay if you can find one. Most people don't know it matches up with 28mm.

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On 9/3/2023 at 1:45 PM, Willbur said:

I've used this gem on my Fuji X70 and now my QP. It's a Lumix 24mm micro four thirds frame finder, which matches 28mm perfectly. Bright, good design,  metal, not plastic. About $75 on eBay if you can find one. Most people don't know it matches up with 28mm.

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How does that match up to 28mm?  24mm in M43 is the equivalent to 48mm in "full frame".  So that would give a 48mm view.

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The 14mm (28mm equiv) Lumix DMW-VF1 (Micro-4/3rds) finder is a near-perfect match to 18mm field-of-view on APS-C (28mm equivalent), and 28mm full size sensor.

 

I paid $85 for mine 5yrs ago, but a quick check on Ebay reveals the two Lumix DMW-VF1 finders for sale there are going for $200+. A good Leica one isn't much more.

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On 9/1/2020 at 11:16 PM, adan said:

(I know the secret of getting them to fit really tightly and never slide off!)

I have two Voigtlander 28 finders. They fit well but don't have a locking foot. After years of using scraps from a film box, I tried the little stick on felt pads often used to protect furniture. Works well, keeps the finder from slipping, slides in the shoe easily and if it falls off. there's a whole card with more.

 

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3 hours ago, Willbur said:

The 14mm (28mm equiv) Lumix DMW-VF1 (Micro-4/3rds) finder is a near-perfect match to 18mm field-of-view on APS-C (28mm equivalent), and 28mm full size sensor.

Panasonic say the DMW-VF1 is intended for the DMC-LX3. That has a lens that zooms out to '24mm' full frame equivalent (though because this camera uses a 1/1.63" sensor the real focal length is of course much shorter). On a full-frame camera like a Leica M, I'd expect it to serve as a 24mm finder (like it says on the barrel) rather than a 28mm finder. On smaller formats it should work with whatever focal length has the same angle of view as 24mm does on full-frame.

3 hours ago, Willbur said:

I'm selling my Lumix DMW-VF1  finder 'cause on the QP my [big] nose gets in the way, and I can't work fast, as I did with it on my beloved Fuji X70. 

Private mssg me if you're interested. 

I  believe the forum rule is that all sales should be via the Classifieds:

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/classifieds/

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12 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

No viewfinder is perfect, as you move your eye around the view there are slight changes.

None of them are accurate, to be quite honest. but when a sales pitch states “near perfect”, you know it actually means “NOT perfect”.

I own 24 finders. Yes, I went berzerk, but slowly, over time. I love those things.

But what about aspect ratio? It, at least, has to be respected accurately. Mixing aspect ratios is really not serious. How can you compose?

As a side note, Zeiss really cheated with their vfs. If I recall correctly, the 21 and 18 were exactly the same optics and frame lines...

 

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But Grasshopper, the whole point in using an optical finder atop any wide-angle Leica--at least my humble experience with my many M cameras--1969-95--(M2, M4 21-28 lenses) is to shoot fast. If you've got leisure time enough to carefully compose a shot using a whacky-slow EVF or a three inch tv screen you're likely gonna lose the shot--at least the shots I tend to take. I s'pose it's all about your shooting style. Me? I have the attention-span of a fly, and a shooting style to match.... oh, and I haven't cropped a picture since about 1968.  -W

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4 hours ago, Bronco McBeast said:

Except that adding an inaccurate aspect ratio (M43 finder) on top of inaccurate angle of view blows the whole point away.

At least stick to the 36mm/24mm aspect ratio. 

It isn't an M4/3 finder, it was made for the Panasonic LX3, the own-branded version of the camera Leica calls the D-LUX 4. This has a smaller format sensor than M4/3, a fixed zoom lens, and selectable aspect ratios (3:2, 4:3 and 16:9). They chose to make the finder with a 3:2 frame for the widest setting of the zoom ('24mm equivalent'). This should in theory be fine on a full-frame Leica with a 24mm lens, but will be too wide for a 28mm.

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I just wanted to touch on a couple of things I don't see mentioned very often. The two latest Leica finders, the 21mm (28mm) and 24mm super expensive ones, are black paint over brass as opposed to aluminum, or plastic for that matter. A lesser known fact is that these Leica finders are gently clocked, about 1 degree in the direction of the lens mount on a Leica body. To my knowledge, no other brand of finder is clocked and this should result in more accurate framing relative to the others.

I can also confirm that the Leica Universal Wide-angle Viewfinder, aka Frankenfinder is in-fact aluminum. 

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  • 6 months later...

Nikon DF-CP1 - Best brightline finder ever. Definitively better, then Leica. Originaly for coolpix A camera. You have only to put some tape over Nikon branding on it :)

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On 3/12/2024 at 2:34 PM, thrid said:

Does anyone know what the aspect ratio is of the frame lines on the Voigtlander 28mm v2 (metal) viewfinder?

Is it 3:2?

I have noticed that some of these finders are 4:3, not 3:2...

thx

Aren't all the (modern Cosina) Voigtländer finders 3:2? They were made to go with their range of lenses for 35mm cameras. Or do you mean finders from other manufacturers?

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Am 2.9.2020 um 08:16 schrieb adan:

At several points, in fact. ;)

Not sure of the exact timing, but when the 28 Summicron and the 0.85x M6 were introduced around 2000, Leica reintroduced a stand-alone (plastic) 28mm viewfinder. Then they dropped that in favor of a zooming 21/24/28 finder (no bright lines, just a black mask) - which in turn was replaced by the Frankenfinder (Universal Wide-Angle - a huge device with transilluminated brightlines for 16-18-21-24-28, for use with the Leica M8 as well as 24x36 Leicas): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/461939-REG/Leica_12011_Universal_Wide_Angle_Viewfinder_M.html/specs

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Personally, I just don't use the plastic individual finders at all any more - the plastic feet always break off eventually due to being exposed to hitting doorframes and such in fast-moving situations. I splurge on used Leica metal finders (I know the secret of getting them to fit really tightly and never slide off!), which are also more compact. And simply conform to the M body design far more attractively.

The current 21mm metal finder (12024/5 - black or silver) price is outgageous, but I've seen several at less than half-price, used. AND those have a frameline for using a 21 on a cropped M8 - coincidentally, a 28mm field of view. Two finders in one, if one uses a 21 as well (I do) - for $400. Pretty neat!

What is your secret to fit the metal viewfinder tightly?

Fixed to my M10P they are loose, not so on her analog sisters.

Can you give me an advise?

Greatings, Philip

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41 minutes ago, leicaoptik said:

What is your secret to fit the metal viewfinder tightly?

Fixed to my M10P they are loose, not so on her analog sisters.

Can you give me an advise?

Greatings, Philip

Philip - As with all my M-cameras (all film, 1969-99), on one body--my beloved black paint M2, the 28mm finder was semi-permanently attached or rather carefully pushed into the shoe using a carefully-cut piece of quality black Gaffer's tape affixed to the bottom of the shoe--not the finder. Putting tape on the base of the finder was difficult to squeeze in ther, as when you slid it onto the shoe it would bunch up. Use an Xacto knife to cut a nice neat piece of tape, corner-to-corner of the M-camera shoe. I don't use flash on M-cameras, so having the finder semi-permanently there is fine. If you use flash, then you'd have to put the tape onto the bottom of the finder, which you may have to try a few times to get a neat job. Also, you may need to wrap the finder base a bit to squeeze it into the shoe. Trimming excess tape can also be done, once you get it in there. My 28mm finder was virtually part of the M2 for decades. The key, I think, is getting a quality roll of black Gaffer's tape, about $20. The cheap stuff won't work.

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