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KEH’s Tilt-Shift Report, where the company shares exclusive data and unique insights into the latest trends in camera gear buying, trading, and selling.
The Tilt
There is a little context I need to give around the storied Leica M-mount. Basically, it was introduced in 1954 with the launch of the Leica M3, replacing the M39 screw-mount for a favorable new bayonet design that made switching faster, while locking in the lens to the body more precisely and securely.
“M” stands for messsucher, or “rangefinder” in German, and it’s a design still in use with digital Leica-M cameras today. The rangefinder has indeed proved to be an enduring form, as many photojournalists, documentary and street photographers favor it for its simplicity, size, reliability, and quick operation.
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Best Viewfinder, Continued
I forgot to mention one extraordinary viewfinder I ve experienced the Zeiss ZI 25/28mm OVF. It s one of a family of viewfinders that clip into the flash shoe of any type of camera that has the shoe located directly above the lens. They were made for the Zeiss Ikon (ZI), the Cosina-made rangefinder film camera, but you can use them on any camera they are suited for, digital or film. I used to call these OVFs, but now that OVF has come to mean the opposite of EVF, it makes more sense to call these clip-on OVFs.
It s a good thing Zeiss never made a 35mm variant of these wider finders (the company also makes them for 15mm, 18mm, and 21mm focal lengths they re all at the above link) because I would have been tempted to spring a leak in my wallet just to have one on my DSLR for the plain pure pleasure of it. The 25/28 is like a rangefinder viewfinder raised to the highest power it s incredibly bright, clear and contrasty. Compared to the built-in viewfinder
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