SBOOI Information

[Martin Horne]

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Evening All. Just bought a lovely SBOOI and case and looking for some information. Ideally I would have preferred the one with the silver cover on the eye side but finding an affordable one in decent condition has been difficult. The one I’ve purchased has what looks like a threaded back ( I don’t have it yet). Is that just the design or is it a thread designed to have something attached to it? Really interesting item and there doesn’t seem to be much information out there on them.

[a.noctilux]

Hello Martin,

The best VF for me.

I can not let one pass when I can buy one.

Having four now, never enough.

in Wiki we have some infos.

seen here

 

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Happily I use SBOOI whenever I can

I don't have any in black though.

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[romualdo]

10 hours ago, Martin Horne said:

The one I’ve purchased has what looks like a threaded back ( I don’t have it yet). Is that just the design or is it a thread designed to have something attached to it? Really interesting item and there doesn’t seem to be much information out there on them.

I have a "black backed" SBOOI - actually wasn't aware there were different versions regarding the ocular region. That's not a thread on the rear black ring, just the design (rings)

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[qqphot]

I haven't seen a black backed on, but I will agree that (aside from lack of adjustable parallax correction) it's the best. Looking through it is just like not looking through it, except there's a nice rectangular frame!

[luigi bertolotti]

1 hour ago, romualdo said:

I have a "black backed" SBOOI - actually wasn't aware there were different versions regarding the ocular region. That's not a thread on the rear black ring, just the design (rings)

 

 🙂 Quote from Jim Lager  "Variations within an individual viewfinder type seems endless : the author has, for example, encountered six variations of the SBOOI..."

(and he depicts also a 5 cm VF styled like SGOOD SGVOO SHOOC - to say, conical eyepiece with parallax adjustement... unknown code, uncertain date)

 

[martin_horne]

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Here it is.

[alan mcfall]

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My contribution. Black paint rear on front row, all chrome on the back row. The black paint rear ones are in both 5cm and 50mm. Great for the post war Ic, If and Ig.

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[qqphot]

1 hour ago, alan mcfall said:

My contribution. Black paint rear on front row, all chrome on the back row. The black paint rear ones are in both 5cm and 50mm. Great for the post war Ic, If and Ig.

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So you're the reason why it's so hard to find good ones now! 🤣

[Pyrogallol]

Stereo ?

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[jc_braconi]

Viewfinders for the 50 mm focal lens SBOOI/12015, cylindrical shaped, in its variety :

First one 5cm  front engraved plain sides chrome,

Second one 5cm front engraved striped sides

Third and fourth show the 5cm front engraved back faces with and without black ring eyepieces.

Fifth one show the latest model, 50mm front engraved  with in background respective leather cases and genuine carton box.

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[PG Black nickel]

I also have a Leica 5cm viewfinder that came with an IG, that looks a bit like the Sbooi but has a parallax, dual scale and a 135mm frame inside the 50mm frame. I have never seen one like it. it.would be a fake?

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[alan mcfall]

Some have the GmbH engraving, I assume this started around 1952, but evidently was dropped at some  point later on. Every one I have observed has the Germany engraving. Before the war, it was often seen on products for export, but maybe no longer used for that purpose after the war.  The 33mm stereo viewer seems to be identical in shape and all of mine have the black paint rear rim and the grip side lines. I am not sure where the stereo viewfinders were made, did Midland get the plans and/or parts from Wetzlar and engrave them in Canada? Or build them themselves, pretty much like the 33mm lenses.

As to the finder in post 11, it is clearly atypical for Leitz, is the ELW lettering actually machine engraved, as it looks like possibly a "stencil" lettering?  Possibly a prototype.

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[nitroplait]

13 hours ago, qqphot said:

So you're the reason why it's so hard to find good ones now! 🤣

It is almost cheaper to collect Elmar 50/3.5 lenses than nice SBOOI finders these days. Go figure.

[qqphot]

15 minutes ago, nitroplait said:

It is almost cheaper to collect Elmar 50/3.5 lenses than nice SBOOI finders these days. Go figure.

And let's not get started on SUOOQ, SBLOO, etc.

[luigi bertolotti]

15 hours ago, PG Black nickel said:

I also have a Leica 5cm viewfinder that came with an IG, that looks a bit like the Sbooi but has a parallax, dual scale and a 135mm frame inside the 50mm frame. I have never seen one like it. it.would be a fake?

 

 

 

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It's really an oddity... surely I haven't ever seen one similar to it.... the distance numbers on the parallax adjustment's ring have not a typical Leitz style, I'd say... But IG was mainly sold as a "Lab" Camera... I wonder if it's a sort of "special accessory" from the "tech-sci" department

Or, as Alan suggests. a prototype : the lack of parallax adjustment was clearly a limitation of the otherwise excellent SBOOI : it can be related to the finder depicted by Lager quoted in my post #5 ,which too seems to be a never catalogued item.

Edited July 28, 2022 by luigi bertolotti

[PG Black nickel]

I had bought this IG from the granddaughter of a laboratory technician, who used this apparatus in his laboratory. In the box there was, apart from the IG, the viewfinder, some rings, a strange 39 mm sunshield, mirrors, a whole bunch of unmarked microscope equipment that I thought was worthless.
But why not a prototype, I find it hard to imagine that someone could have made a fake Leitz viewfinder 50 or 60 years ago, considering the work it required to obtain a ridiculous price at that time!

 

[luigi bertolotti]

19 hours ago, PG Black nickel said:

I had bought this IG from the granddaughter of a laboratory technician, who used this apparatus in his laboratory. In the box there was, apart from the IG, the viewfinder, some rings, a strange 39 mm sunshield, mirrors, a whole bunch of unmarked microscope equipment that I thought was worthless.
But why not a prototype, I find it hard to imagine that someone could have made a fake Leitz viewfinder 50 or 60 years ago, considering the work it required to obtain a ridiculous price at that time!

 

I agree : btw, the writing on the cylinder body looks very accurately made... perfectly positioned... right fonts (*)  (a bit too high, but can be an effect of the photo) ; nearly impossible to think is a fake

(*) note the H in capital in "GmbH" , like in original Leitz items... 

Edited July 29, 2022 by luigi bertolotti

[Anbaric]

Apparently 'Prototype bright-line universal finders exist in the Leitz museum in Wetzlar' (p15):

https://www.cameramanuals.org/leica_pdf/leica_accessory_guide.pdf

Two focal lengths isn't quite universal, but this does seem to be something they experimented with.

[Pyrogallol]

My specialist dealer, now retired, has a 50mm finder in the style of the 90/135mm finders. I have seen it.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear