Optical Rangefinder

[Fotoman Professional]

Just wanted get an understading of the level of interest in an optical rangefinder. We are in the process of detremining if there is still interst in this type of item. it is becoming more and more difficult to find decent optical rangefinders. We feel there may be a need for one. Please provide your comments and or suggestions.

[Drew Bedo]

Who/what is your target market? End users such as members of this forum or camera manufacturers? If your target maeket is DIY, you will be competing with whatever Polaroid 110 xx bodies are stil out there. If your product is for Speed Graphics, there may be an issue with reproducing the look of an OEM Kalart unit. The LF market is already a nitche in the overall photography world. RF-LF is a much smaller corner of that nitche in my view. And yet . . .

What I would love to have is something like a 4x5 RF camera derived from one of the Zeis-Agfa/Ansco-Besssa folders of the 30s & 40s with a paralax corrected range/view finder,(a 4x5 leica or Contax . . .Mamya 7?)

I don't think there is that large a market for an LF rangefinder though. If there was, someone would have done it . . .and designed a camera around it.

There are Polaroid conversions. Littman and Byron probably do the best job of re-manufacturing these 70 year old bodies, and they sell for thousands of dollars, but not enough demand for anyone to build a new designfrom scratch.

[Steve Goldstein]

Some fraction of the folks who've bought in to the Wanderlust enterprise may want rangefinders. That's over 1000 people total, with very roughly 75% choosing the 90mm version with the focusing helical. The 65mm version is fixed focus, so there's no need for a rangefinder. You'd face competition there from the Blix (? - not sure of the name, it's of Russian manufacture) that seems relatively available on eBay for fairly small money, plus all the other old rangefinders that have been made over the years. I really wonder whether your potential market is large enough to justify doing this.

That said, I purchased a new Fotoman rangefinder about the time they were being discontinued, and find it nicely made, bright, and accurate. I plan to use it on my own 90mm Wanderlust when it arrives.

[David Aimone]

I'd be interested if you could do it for a reasonable amount...

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have an old Widor rangefinder and have found it useful with various scale-focusing cameras over the years. Currently it lives on my Voigtlander Perkeo II, but I've also mounted it to a non-rangefinder Linhof Tech II, turning it into a very practical lightweight rangefinder press camera. I'd imagine that if more people knew that these were an option, there would be interest.

[Oren Grad]

At the risk of making the product slightly more complicated to manufacture and thus slightly more expensive, a useful feature would be the ability to adjust the position of the mounting foot to anywhere along the length of the body of the rangefinder and then lock it securely in place. The existing Fotoman rangefinder is an awkward fit to my Perkeo II - it obstructs access to the shutter release. But more generally, cameras have different control layouts along the top, and any fixed foot position is likely to run into trouble with some of them.

For those who aren't familiar, here's the existing product:

http://web.archive.org/web/201108192...20919RF-Lg.jpg

[Fotoman Professional]

Steve thank you I appreciate the lead.

[Fotoman Professional]

Thank you all for the immediate feedback

[Collas]

Are you talking about a rangefinder camera, or a stand-alone rangefinder for calculating distances?

Nick

[Oren Grad]

Are you talking about a rangefinder camera, or a stand-alone rangefinder for calculating distances?

Separate, camera-mountable rangefinder device for determining distances.