Made in the USSR

[Stephen]

Winging it's way from Ebay, a decent condition Russian Universal viewfinder, with the original Bakelite storage box and paperwork, and far less costly than some advertised on ebay recently, which can be quite tatty if in the lower price band. Seller in the UK, not Russian.

By a long way the best design universal viewfinder, based on a Zeiss design for the Contax. As long as the glass is clean, then all should work, and they are not difficult to clean up if dust has got inside.

Stephen.

[Deleted]

I have one. If I remember correctly there was a model made for the Kiev (Contax) and one with a slightly different mount for the Zorki and FED. I think one was oriented to the right and the other to the left. Be careful holding it up to your eye if you have glasses -- especially if they have plastic lenses as the metal ring around the eyepiece will scratch them.

[SidW]

It's definitely extremely good. It also has parallax correction so I also use it with a Canon Powershot G12 for close-ups. My serial number is just 4000 below yours.

[julio1fer]

Be careful holding it up to your eye if you have glasses -- especially if they have plastic lenses as the metal ring around the eyepiece will scratch them

So true. In mine I installed a short length of silicone tubing around the eyepiece. I suppose there are more elegant methods.

The viewfinder is excellent, clear and quite accurate. A bit bulky if I must criticize.

[Stephen]

The eyepiece has a threaded ring, so can have a plastic ring or rubber eyepiece screwed on to prevent scratches. There were two varieties of the cast body at one point, one had a mirrored casting for the body, shifting the lenses to the right hand, but they are uncommon.

I was told by the TOE(UK)ltd., sales rep that in the USSR they were marketing a rubber eyecup, but the Soviets would never send them when ordered by TOE(UK)ltd. The rubber eyecup came from one of the Quartz movie cameras.

Most of the sellers in Russia ae offering well worn viewfinders if the price is low, mine was £27, and in good condition. They usually seem to fetch about £60/70 in the UK these days on Ebay.

Very useful on Digital cameras like the Olympus Pen 4/3 type with a shoe.

[Stephen]

The only rival to this design was the French made Foca Viewfinder, which copied the same Contax design after the war. It varied on details and was a bit smaller overall. Made to fit the Leica style 35mm Foca rangefinder cameras of the 1940's and 1950's.

www.lumieresenboite.com/collection2.php?l=2&c=Foca_Universel_R

Shows an example of the French version.
Stephen.

[Stephen]

There was a minor problem, three tiny specks of dirt in the viewfinder!...... but easily cleaned as the front and rear come off and the dirt was blown out gently with compressed air. Also the Post Office had dropped the box and the Bakelite was chipped, but the part was there in the packing, and now is re-glued and the surface nicely polished over the repair.
Now to find the Foca Version, and a Wray copy of the Leica type viewfinder!

Stephen.