The Retina Reflex Way [antikvár]

After the lens, the most important part of a camera is probably the viewfinder system. This shows just what the camera is about to record on the film at any time. And the more reliably and conveniently the viewfinder indicates the picture, the handier a camera becomes. The classical way of checking the picture is the ground glass screen. This is fully reliable, but alsó somewhat cumbersome as it involves changing the screen for the film or plate before every exposure. Its modern successor is the eye-level reflex screen. It directly shows the image upright (it was upside down on the ground glass), the right way round, and at eye-level-with the camera held ready for shooting. The screen still shows the same picture that is förmed by the lens; a mirror reflects it up on to a horizontal ground glass on the top of the camera and a prism arrangement turns it round once more for direct viewing. The film is in place all the time; for taking the picture the mirror simply swings out of the way, allowing the lens to form the picture directly on the film. That is the principle of the seeing reflex camera. And one such camera is the Retina Reflex. The eye of the camera, and the eye that shows the picture beforehand, are one and the same: the camera lens. It shows the scene in front of it as it will appear on the film, and more or less as we expect to see it on normál viewing. The Retina Reflex is in fact the ideál combined seeing and picture-taking instrument. In this way the eye-level reflex is an extension of our eye. We can directly visualise everything in front of us in terms of pictures. And pressing a button records that permanently on the film. This comparison-in the same viewing direction-between the live view and the picture it produces is perhaps the most significant feature of the Retina Reflex. But it does more than