Question to Brightline Viewfinder owners (especially 18mm)

[Marckyokay]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have the older Leitz Wetzlar SBKOO viewfinder for the 21mm. 
A lovely little thing, brass, with brightlines (although ever so slightly tilted, probably knocked out of place during the last decades).
NO look outside the brightlines, they are the borders of what I can see when looking through the SBKOO.

But since this is the older model, I wonder if you actually can look outside the brightlines/ framelines with the current ones.
I would like to get the 18mm brightline viewfinder for an 18mm lens, but maybe also would like to use it to guesstimate the field of view for my 1stGen CV 15mm LTM lens. 

But well, stores closed, can't try it out, next Leica Store would be a bit of a drive anyway...
So, would any 18mm brightline owner out there (if there are any...) grant me a look though their viewfinder so I can assess if that will be possible?

Thanks and stay safe everyone!

Edited February 21, 2021 by Marckyokay

[a.noctilux]

Long fan of VF, I'm decades long user of wide-angle lenses on M.

I've had (still have) over years a dozen of good Leitz/Leica viewfinders, (SLOOZ, SBKOO, 12008, 12012, 12014 ) after looking through SBOOI and SBLOO.

...

To be short 😉

Now, I use on M without liveview/EVF when I need precise framing (rarely now),

Voigtlander zoomfinder 15-35

a bit odd, DA446A (from Wiki) but this is one of the best in it's kind, bright, continous field settable, no distortion, even with dioptre correction built-in.

Sorry never had the 18mm Leica.

[Marckyokay]

45 minutes ago, a.noctilux said:

Long fan of VF, I'm decades long user of wide-angle lenses on M.

I've had (still have) over years a dozen of good Leitz/Leica viewfinders, (SLOOZ, SBKOO, 12008, 12012, 12014 ) after looking through SBOOI and SBLOO.

...

To be short 😉

Now, I use on M without liveview/EVF when I need precise framing (rarely now),

Voigtlander zoomfinder 15-35

a bit odd, DA446A (from Wiki) but this is one of the best in it's kind, bright, continous field settable, no distortion, even with dioptre correction built-in.

Sorry never had the 18mm Leica.

Thank you, that's a really cool tip with the Voigtlander Zoomfinder.... interesting. 
But it looks rather large and I love the simple elegant small Leica "torpedo" viewfinder 😂 

I hope someone pops up who owns one of the current brightline finder. 

[UliWer]

Unfortunately I cannot let you look through my 18mm finder (Leica 12022) since you seem to be too far away. I fear you won‘t be able to guess the field of view for 15mm with it. The frames for 18mm are close to the edges and like the SBKOO the outer space is blackened. 
The huge Universal finder, which has 16mm, leaves some space beyond the field of view - though this is the Frankenfinder...

[Marckyokay]

4 hours ago, UliWer said:

Unfortunately I cannot let you look through my 18mm finder (Leica 12022) since you seem to be too far away. I fear you won‘t be able to guess the field of view for 15mm with it. The frames for 18mm are close to the edges and like the SBKOO the outer space is blackened. 
The huge Universal finder, which has 16mm, leaves some space beyond the field of view - though this is the Frankenfinder...

Well, that's the info I searched. Knowing this helps, thank you very much! Unfortunate but helps making buying decisions.

[ivohula]

On 2/22/2021 at 4:10 AM, UliWer said:

The huge Universal finder, which has 16mm, leaves some space beyond the field of view - though this is the Frankenfinder...

+1

The Frankenfinder works really well; it must have about a 14mm field of view. There is a lot of edge even at 16 mm so can see what is outside your field of view at 16mm. It has 18mm frame lines also.  I know it is BIG. Other option is a Visoflex but it is big also. Life is full of choices, is it not?

[Stephen.s1]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Check out CameraQuest.  They might have what you're looking for.  Then try Rangefinder Fourm

G'luck. My 15mm finder really doesn't let one look very far outside of the frame lines