linhof finders

[hfsilva]

Hello gentlemen
How do you tell a a 13x18 universal finder from a 4x5 (old brown models)?
Regards

[Bob Salomon]

The lens range, 45 starts wider, 57 goes longer then 360mm. The front mask.

[hfsilva]

How would the scale on a 13x18 read then?
Regards

[Bob Salomon]

Depends on how old it is. The last version went from 121mm to 500mm. I don't know if I have the specs on ones as old as you are asking about. I will have to look tomorrow when I am back in the office.

[hfsilva]

Thank you

[Bob Salomon]

Depends on how old it is. The last version went from 121mm to 500mm. I don't know if I have the specs on ones as old as you are asking about. I will have to look tomorrow when I am back in the office.

The oldest one I can find is one of the tan ones that crops the image by pulling the front and rear apart or moving them towards each other. This also goes from 121 to 500mm. The big difference between this type of cropping finder and the later zoom version is that as you go to longer lenses the view in the older type crops down and gets very small. To about the size of the nail on you little finger.
The later type zooms and the image remains large at all focal lengths. This one also corrects for field size as you set the distance and for parallax. Lastly the format masks for the later types will not fit the earlier ones. However, the later type 57 Multifocus Optical Viewfinder and its masks have not been available new from Linhof for several years.

[Richard Rau]

I have an older one that goes from 90 to 360mm. Although I don't own a Linhof, a friend of mine showed me (almost 40 years ago) how he used it as a hand held viewing/cropping tool when tring to size up a potenial subject out in the field, and how useful it is to zoom in and out and crop to determine what focal length to use before you even pull your camera and lens out of your pack. Saves a lot of guess work. Although it's lens markings and ratios are for the 4x5, it's easy to convert in your mind what focal length would be suitable for 8x10. I picked up a used one and have been using it ever since as a viewing aid. Quite the handy tool!

[John Schneider]

...the later type 57 Multifocus Optical Viewfinder...

These are wonderful finders.

On the old black anodized dual 4x5/5x7 finders, the 5x7 scale went from 121 - 500mm as Bob noted.

Linhof never (correct me if I'm wrong, Bob) made a "brown" finder. On some of the older black anodized telescoping barrels, the anodized changed to a rich brown over time. I had a very early Specialized Stumpjumper in which the black anodized front bar ended up a deep gold when I eventually sold it, so the problem wasn't unique to Linhof's supplier.

[Bob Salomon]

These are wonderful finders.

On the old black anodized dual 4x5/5x7 finders, the 5x7 scale went from 121 - 500mm as Bob noted.

Linhof never (correct me if I'm wrong, Bob) made a "brown" finder. On some of the older black anodized telescoping barrels, the anodized changed to a rich brown over time. I had a very early Specialized Stumpjumper in which the black anodized front bar ended up a deep gold when I eventually sold it, so the problem wasn't unique to Linhof's supplier.

There were tan models as well as black ones. The first ones were black as are the current ones.