I just received a Voigtlander Heliar 15. Now I see what everyone has been raving about. Great lens and I really like the bright viewfinder.

The only problem is keeping track of the viewfinder in my bag. It's been rolling around and some speck of something is now on the interior of one front elements. Any advice in removing this? It's particularly annoying. Also, any suggestions for a case to keep this from happening in the future?

Thanks, Luke

-- Luke Dunlap (luked@mail.utexas.edu), May 15, 2002

Answers

If you're bold, remove the small screws into the bottom, and the top half of the finder separates off. Then you can clean things, or, more likely, make it worse.

The neatest advice I've seen, which I now do, is to stick velcro tape on the tops of your finders (the soft half on the finders) and the bottoms (the hard part of the velcro) of all your back caps, and stick the finder on the bottom of its lens when you're not using it. I keep my lenses made in little bags I made from taking the top ribbed section of old socks and stitching the bottom to make an elastic tube for the lens and finder. Use a sock that's been well washed and old, so you won't have lint all over.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002.

I've got the same problem. I've got the leatherette case for the 21mm Leica finder (plastic) but the 15 is too wide and won't fit. For my old metal Leitz 21mm and 28mm Leica finder I found a soft plastic container with a hinged lid that snaps in place to which I cut out some of the gray foam that comes in Halliburton type cases to make a tray for the finders to sit on. Also the same configuration for the 35mm and 50mm Leitz metal finders. I'm on my way as we speak to a store called the "Container Store" where I hope to find another of the containers, I think trhat they are called "Pharmacutical Boxes", or to the local used "flea" market camera store to dig about in the bins. I'll let you know if I find anything. Good Luck,

FWB

-- F. William Baker (atelfwb@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

I have the Voigtlander case and its great. I use one for the 15, 21, 25, and 35 classic VC lenses. The lens compartment will hold the lens with M adapter and apropriate rear cap also. The over all size of the case is small also. I believe I paid $39 from Henrey's.

-- Jon Ladd (jonladd@attbi.com), May 15, 2002.

I use color coded Optech neoprene cases for my 21/4, 15/4.5, and 25/4. (So I always know that the 15/4.5 is in the blue bag, for instance.) I'd like to get some sort of little jewelry bag with the drawstring for the finders though. The Voigtlander 50mm finder came with such a bag and it works nice with a spring-loaded drawstring doohickie like those that you find on North Face jackets' drawstrings.

Right now, I use bubblewrap cut and taped into a pouch with a velcro closure for each finder. It works great, protects the finder, costs nothing, and you can write with a Sharpie on the outside which finder is in the bag.

Skip

-- Skip Williams (skipwilliams@pobox.com), May 15, 2002.

I use a 6 compartment fold-up cloth filter wallet for all my finders.

-- Robert Marvin (marvbej@earthlink.net), May 15, 2002.

There is also another possiblity, I have found that the case for the Russian 35mm finder fits the 21mm finder just fine. It looks like a very small hard plastic lens case that has a cut out for the finder shoe so the finder does not move around. wbill

-- wbill (wbill@bellatlantic.net), May 15, 2002.

Most privately-owned camera stores that have been around for a while have a bin full of little leather/leatherette snap cases from one thing or another, chances are one of them will be a good fit for the finder (perhaps with a little bit of foam placed inside).

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

The Cosina/Voigtlander cases, made specifically for these lenses and their viewfinders. I use one for my 15mm, and the CV 75mm fits perfectly into one of these cases with the partition removed.

Other times, I tape some bubble wrap into a little pouch, and drop the lens and the viewfinder into a soft leather(like) pouch that ties to my belt. There's room for a couple rolls of film.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), May 16, 2002.

Luke,

You might buy an accessory flash shoe (these are made by various manufacturers like Lindahl and Stroboframe) and super glue it to the back of the rear lens cap. Just keep the finder in the shoe and slide it off as needed. I had a 21SA that had this shoe arrangment on the rear cap. I don't know if it came this way from Leica or was put togther by the previous owner of the lens....but it worked!

-- Todd Phillips (toddvphillips@webtv.net), May 16, 2002.