Framelines for 45mm viewfinder

[Nick R.]

I recently received my 45mm lens and viewfinder for the RF645. Wow, what a liberating experience. I just set my lens to the hyperfocal distance with the camera set to aperture priority AE and shot using the aux. viewfinder. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to photograph without needing to fuss with focus or exposure -just frame and shoot.

Anyway, I didn't get the manual with the lens and wonder if anyone can explain exactly how the framelines work in the aux. viewfinder? There appears to be markings for parallax correction. Otherwise, I've been loosely framing to keep from inadvertantly cropping.

[Doug]

I can't seem to put my hands on my RF645 manual at the moment... I'm sure I put it somewhere sensible and obvious that's not evident now. I think the parallax marking near the top shows the upper limit of the image at closest focusing distance. I don't know if the bottom line remains accurate (considering the field size shrinkage at close focus) or if the lower limit of the image would fall below that line. I have not used this finder myself.

But I'm interested in your experience using it! I've not strained to use hyperfocal and guess-focus with my Fuji GS645S with 60mm in daylight use at EI 250 when its RF was acting flaky, so it would clearly be even easier with the Bronica's 45mm. Unfortunately, I'm indoors running wide open much of the time.

[Nick R.]

Thanks, Doug.

What I found so nice using the hyperfocal distance method was the complete lack of fuss in shooting. I only looked through the viewfinder now and then to check that the exposure at the picked fstop was reasonable but otherwise simply composed through the aux. finder and fired away. The aux. finder is nice and bright although pin cushioned. I haven't gotten any shots back from processing since I've shot only color. We'll see how it works in practice.

[bjorke]

Originally Posted by Nick R.

There appears to be markings for parallax correction.

That's correct, and they're only along the top since the finder is on-axis with the lens -- Bronica say use the outer (top) frame for 3m and beyond, the inner one for 1m to 3m

You can get the manual as a PDF from Tamron at http://www.tamron.com/assets/pdfs/RF645.pdf

[Doug]

Thanks for the link to the manual, Bjorke! I didn't realize they had those online. Very handy to reference a pdf file rather than dig through my bookcases, etc.

[Nick R.]

It's easier to find that manual by searching through google than navigating Tamron's website. Too bad they don't have instructions for the 45mm lens and viewfinder online.