mamiya 7 43mm viewfinder alternative

<p>hello!<br>

i've been searching the internet, but honestly, i can't find an answer for my problem. <br>

i manage to get a 43mm mamiya 7 lens for a great price, but it lacks the viewfinder. i'm use to use a 20mm lens in a dslr but don't know if with my experience i can frame well with the mamiya?!<br>

Can anyone advise me for a solution, another viewfinder brand, or no viewfinder is ok, or get the original.<br>

The original is unbelivebly Expensive and i can't understand why.<br>

Much apreciate your help.<br>

best Regards</p>

<p>João Figueiredo</p>

<p>Perhaps try to find a used VF for the lens (eBay, other, using VF or viewfinder as a key word; there is a guy in Jerusalem selling a $20 homemade 21mm VF; might be worth a try if not top quality). A 21mm VF in the 1:1.5 format of 35mm (6cm:9cm in medium format) covers a diagonal angle of view of 91 or 92 degrees. If you mask slightly the sides of a 21mm lens VF with tape you might get close to the 78 degrees of diagonal of the 43mm Mamiya lens on a 6cm:7cm frame. You might have to verify framing by tests with negatives shot with the 43mm lens. 21mm VFs are sold used fairly often, but are not all that cheap either, unless you are lucky.</p>

<p>I recently sent an email to eBay as a guy was selling a 43mm lens but without the viewfinder. Which would have put the lens and viewfinder beyond what most people are prepared to pay. He wanted extra money for the viewfinder as a separate item. eBay never responded nor did the seller.<br>

The lens will not work as advertised by Mamiya without a suitable viewfinder which needs to be matched to the lens. You might get away with another, similar focal length viewfinder, but you will need to experiment a bit and see what happens.<br>

I am sorry to rain on your parade but unless you acquire a Mamiya 43mm viewfinder it will have to be trial and error.<br>

I have recently passed my Mamiya 7 kit on to a dealer in the UK and the 43mm lens includes the viewfinder.<br>

If the person who sold you the lens was any kind of photographer and had used the lens then he/she should have informed you that the viewfinder is a critical component of the kit which is why Mamiya sell them together! </p>

<p>Frank, must say you are right. but from what i know the coldshoe of the viewfinder (the hole piece) is very easy to brake. i think this is what happen, thats why the low price. your right, i'tll be a lot of trial&error but i don't think da field of view of the integrated viewfinder and the lens will be that far away. i think i can visualize better the final picture like this take more time with the picture... but will see. in case it will go totally wrong i have to get a the external piece. will see.</p>

<p>Thank for your help<br>

and also thank you Arthur, that was one of my options too... still don't know if it's worth it.</p>

<p>I can't see how it can in some way be unethical to sell a lens without a viewfinder- just as its not unethical to split a camera kit that you bought together into component parts if you believe it will be more valuable that way. So I'm not surprised that the poster above didn't get a reply from either the seller or eBay- its a very usual practice. You can't attack it on the basis that the 43mm is unusable without the finder without drawing the same conclusion about Hasselblad/Bronica Mamiya etc bodies being sold without backs, lenses and finders, which they commonly are. </p>

<p>If you buy a lens without knowing that you need a finder to use it well, or without checking in advance that the finder is available and affordable, then I'm afraid you are in a situation of your own making. IMO the best situation is not to guess (even the shape of the neg is different from what you're used to) but to buy a viewfinder for the lens. If that isn't affordable or acceptable to you then sell the 43mm. Note that the 50mm and to some extent the 150mm lenses for this camera work better with viewfinders too, though both are easier to use without than the 43mm.</p>

<p>The seller on eBay stated openly the viewfinder was an "optional accessory". Not only is that unethical but it was a blatant lie!<br>

If the viewfinder was "optional" why did Mamiya go the time, trouble and expense of developing and manufacturing a paired viewfinder?<br>

I would trust Mamiya but I would not trust a lot of sellers on eBay.<br>

End of story<br>

Joao, I wish you like with your new lens, enjoy!</p>

<p>Hi!<br>

I have the Mamiya 7 and 43mm with viewfinder.<br>

Sometimes I forget to put the finder on the camera, and I found out that when you look through the entire viewfinder on the camera you get an about 80% coverage of what the lens shoots. I never had a real problem with shooting through the camera's viewfinder, often it was even an advantage as I shoot a lot of black and white and it gave me room for cropping and composing the print.<br>

I suggest that you shoot a few films looking through the camera's viewfinder, and get used to the 80% coverage. You 'll very quickly get an idea of the lenses field of view. Meanwhile you can search calmly for a viewfinder. It shouldn't spoil the fun of using this great camera and lens.<br>

By the way, I found a second viewfinder, not on Ebay, but on a local site (Marktplaats.NL), I paid $150 for it, the spirit level was broken but it worked fine for the rest.<br>

Just type in "mamiya 7" and look at every second hand site you can dream of.<br>

No use asking, I'm not selling my second finder.<br>

Bye, enjoy your lens, and good luck with your search!<br>

Dirk.</p><div></div>

<p>wow!! Dirk great information, exactly what i was looking for. thank you so much, non the less i send a e-mail to FFordes in england and i think they might help me. i'm sure i'll have good clean fun with it.<br>

once again, thank you dirk and all with you kind answers.</p>

<p>JF</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The original is unbelivebly Expensive and i can't understand why.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What is the story for the price of these things? Its always baffled me.</p>

<p>At just over $400, it is about 1/6th the cost of the new lens + finder itself (20% of the cost of the lens itself). Finders also can have several glass elements, so it is not all that surprising that the VF may be complex and the figure is $400, although I am sure someone like Cosina could make it and sell it it for half that amount (and Leica for quite a bit more than $400!). I would try the homemade 21mm VF at $10 that is advertised on eBay and make my own mask after calibration shots of a brick wall with markings. Few RF VFs are accurate in any case.</p>

<p>In the UK a new 50mm finder is listed as £ 519 - $816 US(at Ffordes), compared to £ 1,498 ( $ 2,413 US) for the 50mm lens +finder. That represents over a 1/3 of the total cost and seems to me to be a little excessive. </p>

<p>Either Columbus Camera group or GeorgeUry.com (I don't remember which) have or have had a clean 50mm VF at $200 (about 150 £ ? Actually, it is the astrosmith seller on eBay who is in Japan - a good guy for used Mamiya 6s and optics in mint condition). You are right that the 50 mm example is much worse than the 43 mm one, but the present concern is that of the 43mm VF cost.</p>

Thanks to All for your help. I Was considering the 50mm instead of the 43, but for the price that i got this 43 i Was a no brainer. I made a roll. Of PanF50+ lets see what í did with it. I will try to post some pictures of what i did. Still, i Will keep searxching for a used VF for my 43.

Once again, many thankx.

 

Regards

JF

<p>Ok, everybody i found a possible alternative, but need your help once again, i found a External zoom finder from Gaoersi for 4X5. in lens focal distance de mamiya 43mm is equivalent to a 72mm in large format. So does this finder will give me a close prespective for framing?</p>

<p>hope someone can help.<br>

regards<br>

JF</p>