| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2013 Posts: 298 | | Review Date: February 8, 2024 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Top view viewfinder that lets you use your LX like a Rolleiflex. Well build mechanics. | | Cons: | Reverse view to which one needs to get used to, | |
"The FF-1 finder is nothing more than a folding hood that lets you view a reversed unmagnified 35mm frame sized image, i.e. the LX focus screen."
Just a comment here. What is a apparent is the wide range of ratings to the FF-1. Most likely some people oversee how this thing is correctly unfolded. I find the FF-1 excellent like the other LX view finders that I have used.
No, you don't have simple unfold it and look down onto the screen. Once you unfold the hood, you still have to (or can) flip that little window out. It is visible in the second image (well visible in the supersize 2nd image). It is a magnifying glass.
In the links below, the little window is flipped out. Most images shown in the web have the window not flipped out, but only the hood unfolded.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/36-sold-items/325963-sale-sold-pentax-lx...el-finder.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/androonguyen/albums/72157622490953802/ | | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2017 Location: South Wales Posts: 2,979 | | Review Date: September 12, 2017 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light, compact, relatively cheap, good for special situations | | Cons: | Not an alternative to an eyelevel finder | |
Simple and effective. As with any simple mirror waist-level finder (on twin-lens reflexes for example) the image is reversed and aiming and composing take some getting used to. It is an extra, not a substitute for an eye-level pentaprism. Moreover, unlike a medium format TLR, the ground glass screen in 35mm is too small for focussing without a magnifier (but it has one to fold out).
I find two uses for it :
1) Candid photography. With the camera hanging at waist level it does not look like you are taking pictures. Set the camera on Auto, and use a moderate wide-angle lens set to F8 and the hyperfocal distance. After that don't worry about anything except pressing the shutter button; do your levelling and cropping in the darkroom.
2) Copying. With the camera on a tripod on a table, pointing down, you can compose standing by the set-up looking horizontally into the finder. With a standard pentaprism you would need a step ladder. With copying you have all the time in the world to compose and focus. Not as good as the FE-1 viewfinder for this, but in my neck of the woods that and any of the other special LX viewfinders are either staggeringly expensive or simply unobtainable nowadays.
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2013 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: November 3, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | compact, lightweight, well built, waist level, bright image | | Cons: | quite expensive, not good for vertical shots | |
The FF-1 finder is compact, lightweight and well built. Attached to the LX body it gives the medium format waist level feeling and pretty cool looking. You can see clear and bright 3D image through the finder but it needs some practice to work with reverse picture. I can easy compose image from the waist level but always need use loupe for proper focusing hold it up quite close to my eye. It definetly gives me another point of view to the world!
Cons: I don't use FF-1 finder very often, good only for horizontal shots, quite expensive.
Can be recomended for low point shots and tripod work.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2007 Location: Rockaway Beach NYC Posts: 7,698 | | Review Date: August 20, 2011 | Not Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 3 |
| Pros: | Cool factor (?) | | Cons: | Not a waist level finder | |
Since getting my LX I had always wanted one. What a disappointment!
The FF-1 finder is nothing more than a folding hood that lets you view a
reversed unmagnified 35mm frame sized image, i.e. the LX focus screen.
The image is far too small to be useful to focus and compose from anywhere
near waist level. In fact you must hold it up quite close to your eye to use it.
It's hard for me to imagine a situation in which this finder would be useful.
Perhaps some eyeglass wearers will find it better than the eyelevel prisms.
Rare and usually quite expensive now, IMO this accessory is not worth buying.
For a far more flexible and useful alternative I recommend the FB-1 with FC-1.
| | | | | | | Giveaway winner! Registered: December, 2007 Location: beantown Posts: 944 | | Review Date: August 20, 2011 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Getting into tight places, upside-down, handy | | Cons: | | |
A lovely gift from a friend and wow it is very useful. Mixed with a 35mm F2 is a bright combination. Pity it is so hard to find because I think it should be in every LX owners kit.
Update:
Still comes in handy. Shooting in tight spaces and propping the body in difficult situations. I can frame up and shoot while pressing the camera against a wall for support.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2009 Location: Beautiful Bavaria :-) Posts: 123 | | Review Date: July 28, 2011 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | bright image, long eye relief, compact | | Cons: | | |
This came along with a used LX together with the standard finder.
When putting it on the LX body and unfolding it, you get the medium format waist level feeling: the camera is hanging in front of you and you observe your ambience just by glancing down to the bright, reversed image, very similar to a finderless camera, looking at its screen.
The main difference is the excellent optical quality of the picture under all light conditions and the comfortable eyepoint distance.
No other 35mm or APS-C Pentax camera offers this cool feature so far!
Build quality is excellent, the folding mechanism still works smooth after some 20 years, it is very compact in closed position and very lightweight.
It might not fit everyone's preferences or shooting habits, but for me it was a help insofar as it allowed literally me a "new view" and giving my so often unsuccesful photographical tries a new perspective. People who are die-hard SLR traditionalist and need the eye on a good glass viewfinder with pentaprism might have more difficulties with this waist level finder then the younger generation, used to take pictrues from cellphone screens and live view cameras.
Maybe it is advisable to try it before buying one if you are not sure how it works! For the rest, it is highly recommended!
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