Rangefinder camera - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder

Rangefinder

A rangefinder is a device that measures distance from the observer to a target, for the purposes of surveying, determining focus in photography, or accurately aiming a weapon. Some devices use active methods to measure ; others measure distance using trigonometry...

: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most varieties of rangefinder show two images of the same subject, one of which moves when a calibrated wheel is turned; when the two images coincide and fuse into one, the distance can be read off the wheel. Older, non-coupled rangefinder cameras display the focusing distance and require the photographer to transfer the value to the lens focus ring; cameras without built-in rangefinders could have an external rangefinder fitted into the accessory shoe. Earlier cameras of this type had separate viewfinder

Viewfinder

In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and in many cases to focus, the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main optical system. Viewfinders are used in many cameras of...

and rangefinder windows; later the rangefinder was incorporated into the viewfinder. More modern designs have rangefinders coupled to the focusing mechanism, so that the lens is focused correctly when the rangefinder images fuse; compare with the focusing screen

Focusing screen

A focusing screen is a flat translucent material, usually ground glass, found in a system camera that allows the user of the camera to preview the framed image in a viewfinder. Often, focusing screens are available in variants with different etched markings for various purposes...

in non-autofocus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

SLRs.

Almost all digital camera

Digital camera

A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...

s, and most later film cameras, measure distance using electroacoustic

Electroacoustic phenomena

Electroacoustic phenomena arise when ultrasound propagates through a fluid containing ions. The associated particle motion generates electric signals because ions have electric charge. This coupling between ultrasound and electric field is called electroacoustic phenomena. Fluid might be a simple...

or electronic

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

means and focus automatically (autofocus

Autofocus

); however, it is not customary to speak of this functionality as a rangefinder.

History

The first rangefinders, sometimes called "telemeters", appeared in the nineteenth century; the first rangefinder camera to be marketed was the 3A Kodak

Eastman Kodak

Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....

Autographic Special of 1916; the rangefinder was coupled.

Not itself a rangefinder camera, the Leica I of 1925 had popularized the use of accessory rangefinders. The Leica II and Zeiss Contax

Contax

Contax was a camera brand noted for its unique technical innovation and a wide range of Zeiss lenses, noted for their high optical quality. Its final incarnation was a line of 35 mm, medium format and digital cameras engineered and manufactured by Kyocera, and featuring modern Zeiss optics...

I, both of 1932, were great successes as 35mm rangefinder cameras, while on the Leica Standard

Leica Standard

The Leica Standard, Model E was the fourth version to be launched from Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar, Germany. The concept was conceived by their employee Oscar Barnack in 1913 at which time two prototypes were built. However, it was not until 1924 that Leitz decided to go ahead with the concept and...

, also introduced in 1932, the rangefinder was omitted. The Contax II (1936) integrated the rangefinder in the center of the viewfinder.

Rangefinder cameras were common from the 1930s to the 1970s, but the more advanced models lost ground to single-lens reflex

Single-lens reflex camera

A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...

(SLR) cameras.

Rangefinder cameras have been made in all sizes and all film formats over the years, from 35mm through medium format (rollfilm) to large-format press cameras. Until the mid-1950s most were generally fitted to more expensive models of cameras. Folding bellows rollfilm cameras, such as the Balda Super Baldax or Mess Baldix, the Kodak Retina

Kodak Retina

Retina was the name of a long-running series of German-built Kodak cameras. Retinas were manufactured in Stuttgart by Nagel Camerawerk, which Kodak had acquired in 1931, and sold under the Kodak nameplate. Retinas were noted for their compact size, quality, and low cost compared to their...

II, IIa, IIc, IIIc, and IIIC cameras and the Hans Porst Hapo 66e (a cheaper version of the Balda Mess Baldix), were often fitted with rangefinders.

The best-known rangefinder cameras take 35mm film

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

, use focal plane shutters, and have interchangeable lenses. These are Leica screwmount (also known as M39) cameras developed for lens manufacturer Ernst Leitz Wetzlar by Oskar Barnack

Oskar Barnack

Oskar Barnack was a German optical engineer, precision mechanic, industrial designer and the father of 35mm photography....

(which gave rise to very many imitations and derivatives), Contax cameras manufactured for Carl Zeiss

Carl Zeiss

Carl Zeiss was a German maker of optical instruments commonly known for the company he founded, Carl Zeiss Jena . Zeiss made contributions to lens manufacturing that have aided the modern production of lenses...

Optics by camera subsidiary Zeiss-Ikon and, after Germany's defeat in World War II, produced again and then developed as the Ukrainian Kiev), Nikon

Nikon

, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...

S-series cameras from 1951–62 (with design inspired by the Contax and function by the Leica), and Leica M-series cameras.

The Nikon rangefinder cameras were "discovered" in 1950 by Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....

magazine photographer David Douglas Duncan

David Douglas Duncan

David Douglas Duncan is an American photojournalist and among the most influential photographers of the 20th century. He is best known for his dramatic combat photographs.-Childhood and Education:...

, who covered the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. Canon manufactured several models from the 1930s until the 1960s; models from 1946 onwards were more or less compatible with the Leica thread mount. (From late 1951 they were completely compatible; the 7 and 7s had a bayonet mount for the 50 mm f/0.95 lens in addition to the thread mount for other lenses.)

Launched in 1940, The Kodak 35 Rangefinder

Kodak 35 Rangefinder

The Kodak 35 was launched by Eastman Kodak Company in 1938 as their first 35 mm camera manufactured in the USA. It was developed in Rochester, New York when it became apparent that the company could no longer rely on import from their Kodak AG factory in Germany during the troubled times prior...

was the first 35 mm camera made by the Eastman Kodak Company

Eastman Kodak

. Other such cameras include the Casca (Steinheil

Steinheil

Steinheil is a surname and may refer to:* Heinrich Steinhowel , a Swabian author, humanist, and translator...

, West Germany, 1948), Detrola 400 (USA, 1940–41), Ektra (Kodak

Eastman Kodak

, USA, 1941–8), Foca (OPL

Optique & Précision de Levallois

Société Optique et Précision de Levallois, S.A. was founded in 1919, although its predecessor dated from 1911. It produced rangefinders, military, medical, and scientific optics, and the "Foca" and other rangefinder cameras, at Levallois and Châteaudun .Sales fell off after 1961 and on 1 January...

, France, 1947–63), Foton (Bell & Howell

Böwe Bell & Howell

Bell & Howell is a U.S.-based former manufacturer of motion picture machinery, founded as Bell & Howell in 1907 by two projectionists, and headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company merged with Böwe Systec Inc...

, USA, 1948), Opema II (Meopta

Meopta

Meopta is Czech-American global manufacturer of precision optics, specializing in the design, engineering and assembly of complex optical, opto-mechanical and opto-electronic systems. Meopta makes stuff for the consumer, industrial and military markets....

, Czechoslovakia, 1955–60), Perfex (USA, 1938–49), Robot

Robot (camera)

Robot is a German imaging company known originally for clockwork cameras, later producing surveillance and bank security cameras. Originally created in 1934 as a brand of Otto Berning and Co., it became part of the Jenoptik group of optical companies in 1999...

Royal (Robot-Berning, West Germany, 1955–76), and Witness (Ilford

Ilford

Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...

, Britain, 1953). Among the longer lasting marques, all but the Leica M succumbed in the marketplace to pressure from SLRs. The most recent in the M-series are the M7, the first of the series to feature automatic exposure and an electronic shutter; and the all-mechanical MP, an updated M6 with an M3-style rewind knob; and the new M8

Leica M8

The Leica M8 is the first digital camera in the rangefinder M series introduced by Leica Camera AG on 14 September 2006. It uses a 10.3-megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor.As of 15/07/2011, the most recent firmware version is 2.014.-Features:...

, Leica's first digital rangefinder.

In the United States the dependable and cheap Argus (especially the ubiquitous C-3 "Brick"

Argus C3

The Argus C3 was a low-priced rangefinder camera mass-produced from 1939 to 1966 by Argus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. The camera was the best-selling 35mm camera in the world for nearly three decades, and helped popularize the 35mm format...

) was far and away the most popular 35mm rangefinder, with millions sold.

Interchangeable-lens rangefinder cameras with focal-plane shutters are greatly outnumbered by fixed-lens leaf-shutter rangefinder cameras. The most popular design in the '50s were folding designs like the Kodak Retina and the Zeiss Contessa.

In the 1960s many fixed-lens 35mm rangefinder cameras for the amateur market were produced by several manufacturers, mainly Japanese, including Canon

Canon Inc.

is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...

, Fujica

Fujifilm

is a multinational photography and imaging company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.Fujifilm's principal activities are the development, production, sale and servicing of color photographic film, digital cameras, photofinishing equipment, color paper, photofinishing chemicals, medical imaging...

, Konica

Konica

was a Japanese manufacturer of, among other products, film, film cameras, camera accessories, photographic and photo-processing equipment, photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers.- History :...

, Mamiya

Mamiya

is a Japanese company that today manufactures high-end cameras and other related photographic and optical equipment. With headquarters in Tokyo, it has two manufacturing plants and a workforce of over 200 people...

, Minolta

Minolta

Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system...

, Olympus, Ricoh

Ricoh

or Ricoh, is a Japanese company that was established in 1936 on February 6th, as , a company in the RIKEN zaibatsu. Its headquarters is located in Ricoh Building in Chūō, Tokyo....

, and Yashica

Yashica

Yashica was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras.-History:The company began in December, 1949 in Nagano, Japan, when the Yashima Seiki Company was founded with an initial investment of $566. Its eight employees originally manufactured components for electric clocks...

. Distributors such as Vivitar and Revue often sold rebranded versions of these cameras. While designed to be compact like the Leica, they were much less expensive. Many of them, such as the Minolta 7sII and the Vivitar 35ES, were fitted with high-speed, extremely high quality optics. Though eventually replaced in the market with newer compact autofocus cameras, many of these older rangefinders continue to operate, having outlived most of their newer (and less well-constructed) successors.

Starting with a camera made by the small Japanese company Yasuhara in the 1990s, there has been something of a revival of rangefinder cameras. Aside from the Leica M series, rangefinder models from this period include the Konica Hexar RF

Hexar RF

The Konica Hexar RF was a 35 mm rangefinder camera sold by Konica. Itwas introduced to the market on 13 October 1999. and subsequently discontinued some time before the end of 2003...

, Cosina

Cosina

is a designer and manufacturer of cameras and lenses, and a glassmaker, based in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.-History:Cosina is the successor to Nikō , a company set up as a manufacturer oflenses in 1959...

, who makes the Voigtländer

Voigtländer

Voigtländer is an optical company founded by Johann Christoph Voigtländer in Vienna in 1756 and is thus the oldest name in cameras. It produced the Petzval photographic lens in 1840, and the world's first all-metal daguerrotype camera in 1841, also bringing out plate cameras shortly afterwards...

Bessa T/R/R2/R3/R4 (the last three are made in both manual or aperture automatic version, which use respectly the "m" or "a" sign in model), and the Hasselblad

Hasselblad

Victor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium-format cameras and photographic equipment based in Gothenburg, Sweden.The company is best known for the medium-format cameras it has produced since World War II....

Xpan/Xpan 2. Zeiss has a new model called the Zeiss Ikon, also made by Cosina

Cosina

, while Nikon has also produced expensive limited editions of its S3

Nikon S3

The Nikon S3 is a professional level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, rangefinder camera introduced in 1958. It was manufactured by the Japanese optics company Nippon Kogaku K. K. ....

and SP

Nikon SP

The Nikon SP is a professional level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, rangefinder camera introduced in 1957. It is the culmination of Nikon's rangefinder development which started in 1948 with the Nikon I, and was "arguably the most advanced rangefinder of its time." It was manufactured by the...

rangefinders to satisfy the demands of collectors and aficionados. Cameras from the former Soviet Union — the Zorki

Zorki

Zorki is the name of a series of 35mm rangefinder cameras manufactured in the Soviet Union between 1948 and 1978.The Zorki was a product of the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory , which also produced the Zenit single lens reflex camera...

and FED

FED (camera)

The FED is a Soviet rangefinder camera, mass produced from 1934 until around 1990, and also the name of the factory that made it.FED is indirectly named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka...

, based on the screwmount Leica, and the Kiev — are plentiful in the used market.

Medium-format (rollfilm) rangefinder cameras continue to be produced. Recent models include the Mamiya 6 and 7I/7II, the Bronica RF645 and the Fuji G, GS and GSW series.

In 1994, Contax introduced an autofocus rangefinder camera, the Contax G

Contax G

The Contax G1 and Contax G2 are interchangeable-lens cameras sold by Kyocera under the Contax brand in competition with the Leica M7, Voigtlander Bessa R, and Konica Hexar RF. The G1 was introduced in 1994 with the G2 joining it in 1996...

Digital rangefinder

Digital imaging technology was applied to rangefinder cameras for the first time in 2004, with the introduction of the Epson R-D1

Epson R-D1

The R-D1, announced by Epson in March 2004 and discontinued in 2007, was the first digital rangefinder camera. Manufactured by Cosina, which also builds the current Voigtländer and Zeiss Ikon cameras, the R-D1 and its successor, the Epson R-D1s , use Leica M-mount lenses or earlier Leica screw...

, the first ever digital rangefinder camera. The RD-1 was a collaboration between Epson and Cosina

Cosina

. The R-D1 and later R-D1s

Epson R-D1

use Leica M-mount lenses, or earlier Leica screw mount lenses with an adapter.

Leica released its first digital rangefinder camera, the Leica M8

Leica M8

, in 2006. The M8 and R-D1 are expensive compared to more common digital SLRs, and lack several features that are common with modern digital cameras, such as no real telephoto lenses available beyond 135mm focal length, very limited macro ability, live preview, movie recording, and face detection.

Pros and cons

The viewfinder of a rangefinder camera is necessarily offset from the taking lens, so that the image shown is not exactly what will be recorded on the film; this parallax

Parallax

Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. The term is derived from the Greek παράλλαξις , meaning "alteration"...

error is negligible at large subject distances, but increases as the distance decreases. More advanced rangefinder cameras project into the viewfinder a brightline frame that moves as the lens is focused, correcting parallax error down to the minimum distance at which the rangefinder functions. The angle of view of a given lens also changes with distance, and the brightline frames in the finders of a few cameras automatically adjust for this as well. For extreme close-up photography, the rangefinder camera is awkward to use, as the viewfinder no longer points at the subject.

In contrast, the viewfinder pathway of an SLR transmits an image directly "through the lens". This eliminates parallax

Parallax

errors at any subject distance, thus allowing for macro photography

Macro photography

Macrophotography is close-up photography, usually of very small subjects. Classically a macrophotograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative is greater than life size. However in modern use it refers to a finished photograph of a subject at greater than life size...

. It also removes the need to have separate viewfinders for different lens focal lengths. In particular, this allows for extreme telephoto lenses which would otherwise be very hard to focus and compose with a rangefinder. Furthermore, the through-the-lens view allows the viewfinder to directly display the depth of field

Depth of field

In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...

for a given aperture, which is not possible with a rangefinder design. To compensate for this, rangefinder users often use zone focusing, which is especially applicable to the rapid-fire approach to street photography.

The rangefinder design does not lend itself to zoom lenses, which have a constantly-variable field of view. The only true zoom lens for rangefinder cameras is the Contax G2 Carl Zeiss 35–70mm Vario-Sonnar T* Lens with built-in zoom viewfinder. Very few lenses, such as the Konica M-Hexanon Dual or Leica Tri-Elmar, let the user select among two or three focal lengths; the viewfinder must be designed to work with all focal lengths of any lens used. On a technical level, the rangefinder may become misaligned, leading to incorrect focusing, a problem absent from SLRs.

Nonetheless rangefinder cameras have advantages over SLRs for certain applications. Since there is no moving mirror, as used in SLRs, there is no momentary blackout of the subject being photographed. The camera is therefore often quieter, particularly with leaf shutters, and usually smaller and less obtrusive. These qualities make rangefinders more attractive for theater photography, some portrait photography, action-grabbing candid shots and street photography

Street photography

Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings....

, and any demanding application where portability matters. The lack of a mirror allows the rear element of lenses to project deep into the camera body, making high-quality wide-angle lenses easier to design. The Voigtländer

Cosina

12mm lens was the widest-angle rectilinear lens

Rectilinear lens

In photography, a rectilinear lens is a photographic lens that yields images where straight features, such as the walls of buildings, appear with straight lines, as opposed to being curved. In other words, it is a lens with little or no barrel or pincushion distortion...

in general production for a long time, with a 121 degree angle of view; only recently have comparable SLR lenses entered the market.

Rangefinder users also sometimes talk of a "stream of consciousness" approach to shooting. The key to this is that rangefinder viewfinders usually have a greater field of view than the lens in use, with the photographer being able to see what is going on outside of the framelines and therefore better anticipate action. In addition, with viewfinders with magnifications larger than 0.8x (e.g. some Leica cameras, the Epson RD-1/s

Epson R-D1

, Canon 7

Canon 7

The Canon 7 was a rangefinder system camera produced by Canon Inc., the last compatible with the Leica M39 lens mount. It was introduced in September 1961, with an integrated Selenium meter cell...

, Nikon S, and in particular the Voigtländer

Cosina Voigtländer

Cosina Voigtländer refers to photographic products manufactured by Cosina under the Voigtländer name since 1999. Cosina leases rights to the Voigtländer name from Ringfoto...

Bessa

35mm Bessa

The Bessa family of cameras is manufactured in Japan by Cosina as a revival of the Voigtländer brand name.All the Cosina Voigtländer Bessa models have a double focal plane shutter with two sets of curtains to prevent damage by the sun. Shutter speeds range from 1 to 1/2000s and bulb , with flash...

R3A and R3M with their 1:1 magnification), photographers can keep both eyes open and effectively see a floating viewfinder frame superimposed on their real world view. This kind of two-eyed viewing is also possible with an SLR, using a lens focal length that results in a net viewfinder magnification close to 1.0 (usually a focal length slightly longer than a normal lens

Normal lens

In photography and cinematography a normal lens, also called a standard lens, is a lens that reproduces perspective that generally looks "natural" to a human observer under normal viewing conditions, as compared with lenses with longer or shorter focal lengths which produce an expanded or...

); use of a much different focal length would result in a viewfinder with a different magnification than the open eye, making fusion of the images impossible.

If filters that absorb much light or change the colour of the image are used, it is difficult to compose, view, and focus on an SLR, but the image through a rangefinder viewfinder is unaffected. On the other hand some filters, such as graduated filters and polarizers, are best used with SLRs as the effects they create need to be viewed directly.

External links

Digital Archives on Camera Products, by Nikon
Nikon Camera Chronicle, by Nikon
Nikon Corp. website
Nikon Lens specifications table
Voigtlander Rangefinders A brief write-up on Voigtlander Rangefinders by Matthew Joseph.
antiquecameras.net Free Information and Price Guides for Classic & Modern Cameras
Rangefinder Forum
Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera tested by Thorsten Overgaard
The Fuji Rangefinder Pages: An online resource for enthusiasts of Fuji rangefinder cameras
KodakViewfinders and Rangefinders: on Kodak's early use of rangefinders, by Brian Wallen
Looking Forward: rangefinder design in the context of viewfinder design, by Rick Oleson. Excellently illustrated.
Roland rangefinder camera
CameraQuest's Classic Camera Profiles
Collecting and Using Classic Cameras at Photoethnography.com
Graflex Speed Graphic
Kalart range finder
Explains how rangefinder cameras work
The Kalart Press Camera
Rangefinder Forum on APUG
Hasselblad's Xpan A brief run-down of Hasselblad's Xpan by New Zealand panoramic photographer, Matthew Joseph.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.