I am interested in a 35mm view finder for my M3. Pls advise if you have one for sale. Thanks

-- Tim Tan (kctan18@yahoo.com), January 09, 2002

Answers

Does it have to be Leitz or Leica? The Cosina/Voigtlander 35mm brightline finder is very bright and quite distortion free. Original Leitz/Leica 35mm finders tend to be quite expensive.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), January 10, 2002.

The "Voigtina" finder has very little eye relief. This can be a problem if you use glasses.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 10, 2002.

The expensive route: Leica 35mm viewfinder from New York's B&H for US$ 379.

The cheap route: R ussian 35mm viewfinder from Kiev USA for US$ 52.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), January 10, 2002.

I wear eyeglasses and haven't found the lack of eye relief on the voigtlander finder to be a problem. It's very good, just not as good as a .58 M6 finder.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), January 10, 2002.

If money is an issue I would recommend the Russian finder. I find it clear, bright and accurate. I paid $25 for mine from Russian Souviners.

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), January 10, 2002.

If you cover the center viewfinder window with a piece of electrician's tape, it will blank out the projected frames in the viewfinder. You can then use the outer edges of the viewfinder as a close approximation of the acceptance angle for the 35. This has the advantage of allowing the MR/MR-4 meter to remain attached to the camera.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), January 10, 2002.

I have a Nikon rangefinder 35 finder that I used with my M3. Probably collectible if you're into that kind of thing. I'm not I just use the stuff. It is little and round and black and very bright. It comes with sexy little leather case. I hadn't thought of selling it but if you may be interested email me and we can talk.

-- Don (wgpinc@yahoo.com), January 10, 2002.

I can also recommend the Russan finders. I paid about $30 for mine. Its very clear & bright.No bright line, but over $100 cheaper than the Voigtländer. I used it to replace a German Diax finder I've used for many years. That finder is kind of interesting. It looks like a Leitz 90 mm finder, is bright, LIFE SIZE, and has a bright line. The problem is that its impossible to see anything close to the full frame with glasses--its even hard to do so w/o glasses.

-- Robert Marvin (marvbej@earthlink.net), January 10, 2002.

Tim. In my view, the Leitz Leica 35 mm brightline finder (code name SBLOO), which was recommended for use of very early 35 mm M lenses (eg., 35 mm 35/3.5 Summaron prior to introduction of the 35/3.5 M3 model with the "eyes") is the best BL finder they ever made. Probably better than anyone elses 35 mm finder too. It has excellent eye relief, is outstandingly clear, and is just a pleasure to use.

There is a dotted line to compensate for parallel in the near focus range, but no parallel adjustment scale. The only down-side to this finder is the cost (at $ 300+). There is a very small amount of barrel distortion (not as much as in other Leica WA finders), but it'snot bothersome. Despite their cost, these finders seem to be snarfed up quickly whenever they are offered for sale.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), January 10, 2002.