Koni / Rapid Omega viewfinders

[martha_k.j.]

I am wondering how accurate the koni/rapid omega viewfinders are in terms of

framing and composition. I realize that rangefinders in general are not known

for super accurate framing, and that the rapids and konis were designed to be

used handheld. Having a limited budget, I picked up a rapid 100 with 120 back

and 90mm omegon lens for $100. Before I send it off to Greg Weber, I wanted to

find out whether it will work for carefully composed work with a tripod on slow

film.

[michael_gilday]

In my experience, they're very accurate, at least for the 90mm lens, thanks to the automatic parallax correction. Except for the very slight difference in perspective between the viewfinder and lens, what you see is pretty much what you get. With the 60mm/58mm finder, you need to guesstimate a little more, but it's not too bad, because it's directly above the lens, rather than offset. (Assuming, obviously, that you put the finder in the center accessory shoe.)

 

I use mine on a tripod quite often; the film advance is less than ideal for that, but you get used to it. They're amazing cameras with remarkable lenses; have fun with yours.

[tim_drake]

Yes to your question. I had to send my ebay Rapid Omega body to Greg and I was very-very happy with the results. He cleaned up the view finder and made sure it was right on. Glad to hear you are using a tripod. I removed the hand grip and put an Arca quick release plate on the side as well as on the bottom. I mainly use the wide angle lens and had a custom made step up filter ring to fit 58mm filters. You'll be looking at image quality in the same league as Rolleiflex and Hasselblad.