No Subject

["bobh" <bobh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RE: George (Dr. T) mentioned how about SLRs whose viewfinder image 
matched the other eye directly looking at the scene? Is this NORMAL 
(field)?
That condition with the so called normal lens installed is called a 
"life size" viewfinder...and was one of the main features of the 
original Leica M-3. It was abandoned with the later M-2, M-4, M-5, 
M-6 to get more frames. For this reason some purists like me prefer 
the M-3! In such a camera one can keep both eyes open and get a 
stereo effect with the camera eye showing the picture area.
The very first SLRs with 55mm lenses had the magnification of the 
viewfinder system set to also give a life-size image matching the 
unaided eye...e.g. Contax S, and many of those with 55mm lens. Later 
as they went to 'retrofocus' lenses to get wider fields of view and 
match the conventional "50mm lens" view, this was lost. Voightlander 
has a clip on finder I believe called "Kontur" in various fields of 
view for SLRs, to help for short lenses that needed mirror lockup, or 
those without out auto diaphragms, that was totally opague except for 
bright frame line and a dot in the center. This is very mystifing to 
someone who picks it out of a junk box at a camera swap meet and 
closes one eye and looks through it with the other and sees black! 
Few realize that you need to keep both eyes open and then see the 
life size scene with the non-viewfinder eye and the frame of the 
camera view floating in space. Even more remarkable, the Contax S has 
a clear line around the ground glass, the when the lens is stopped 
down for normal outdoor use, gives exactly the same effect as the 
Kontur viewfinder, for those wise enough to view with both eyes. This 
is not off topic as you see in these systems you need two eyes and 
may get stereo as a bonus! Happy New Year! BobH


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