This finder is in excellent optical and functional condition. The optics give a good clear image even though they are not coated. There are no noticeable scratches or wear on the chrome or painted areas. The wooden box shows some wear and grime. The photos give a good idea.

It has six settings selected by the chrome dial on the side:

  44WA (44mm wide angle)

  50WA (50mm wide angle)

  44NO (44mm normal)

  50NO (50mm normal)

  44TE (44mm telephoto)

  50TE (50mm telephoto)

I think the best explanation for these settings is that this finder dates from around the 1950s when owners of fixed lens 35mm cameras bought auxiliary telephoto / wide angle lens sets with brand names like Lentar, Alpex, or Kaligar. The images produced by these lenses depended on the focal length of the normal lens of the camera, which accounts for the settings starting with "50." The "44" settings were almost certainly to accommodate the Bolsey B and B2 cameras that were common at the time and had 44mm lenses.

It is not apparent what focal lengths correlate to the respective finder settings. I tried comparing the frame areas at the 50WA and 50TE settings to the focal length settings on my Canon 28-80mm zoom lens giving about the same areas. 50WA was about 40mm on the Canon lens and 50TE was about 80mm (taking into account the 1.6X crop factor of the Canon Rebel APS-C sensor).

The parallax lever on the back goes from infinity down to 10 inches. I checked the framing accuracy of the finder by taking pictures with it attached to my Canon EOS 7t. At the 12-inch parallax setting on the finder the image was properly framed at a subject distance of 18 inches. So it would take some calibration work to actually use this device.

This item was donated to be sold to support the Argus Museum. It is not part of the Argus Museum collection.

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