In dire need of 20mm viewfinder... and cheap

[Andrey]

This is ridiculous.

I got a 21mm color scopar and now I'm looking for a viewfinder.

The cheapest thing I can can find would cost me 100 bucks!

I'm not paying 100 bucks for two pieces of plastic glued together.

What are my options?

My first thought was to take a 35mm slide frame, make a box 21mm deep with a small 2-4 mm hole for my eye. But that's not too convenient.

The second thought is to buy a broken vivitar wide and slim. That thing has a 22mm lens AND a viewfinder. And they cost 10 bucks. I could take out the viewfinder out of that camera and use it on my rangefinder... somehow.

Does anybody have a spare one?
Anybody has a broken vivitar 22mm camera?
Other ideas?

Thanks

[Steve Smith]

If you look at my link below for my wide angle panoramic camera you will see the wiewfinder I made. It is for a 65m lens on 6x12cm format but masked with the correct frame it would be around 20mm for a 35mm format.

I made mine with a lot of trial and error using old lens elements. You need three elements in the order positive - negative - positive.

I think the Vivitar option may be easier though. Something else worth trying is a negative (concave) lens in front of an ordinary viewfinder. Get the viewfinder from a single use camera and experiment with that.


Steve.

[Krzys]

If $100 for a viewfinder is ridiculous then why are you shooting with a rangefinder man! If I had to get a viewfinder separate it would be around $200 aud in the end..minimum.. Jeeze.

[Andrey]

If $100 for a viewfinder is ridiculous then why are you shooting with a rangefinder man! If I had to get a viewfinder separate it would be around $200 aud in the end..minimum.. Jeeze.

I shoot it because I like cheap, small wide angle lenses. Not because I like paying an arm and a leg for accessories.

If you look at my link below for my wide angle panoramic camera you will see the wiewfinder I made. It is for a 65m lens on 6x12cm format but masked with the correct frame it would be around 20mm for a 35mm format.

Pretty cool. I might try something like this, but if it takes too much time, I might be better off buying the viewfinder.

[darkosaric]

I shoot it because I like cheap, small wide angle lenses. Not because I like paying an arm and a leg for accessories.

Admit: you put your scopar on zorki 4

[benjiboy]

Logically you have two options, either pay the $100, or do without it.

[Softie]

You can buy a front-door peephole and see how it matches up with the 20mm, masking if necessary. Back when the Hobo was in production they supplied a front-door peephole viewfinder to approximate a 120mm field of view on the 8x10 format.

[clayne]

This is why I prefer to use an SLR for ultrawides - visualization through the viewfinder feels more accurate :-)

[Andrey]

Admit: you put your scopar on zorki 4

How did you know? LOL

It's actually a funny story. I FOUND a fully functional zorki 4 in the back of my apartment building. There was a box of "moving out garbage" and I peeked in. Two dead digital cameras and a zorki 4 with a mint jupiter 12. Score!

But I do have a FED II I bought off ebay fair and square for 40 bucks.

[Andrey]

This is why I prefer to use an SLR for ultrawides - visualization through the viewfinder feels more accurate :-)

The problem is that I don't like ultra wide distortion.

I had a 17-40 from canon. The thing is huge, the quality is OK, but it makes the lines curvy. For some reason, when I have a fridge in the corner of my photo, I like it to be straight. It's very important to me.

There's a distagon 21mm from zeiss, but I'd have to live 10 years on noodles to save up for it.