http://www.nikonchat.com/nikon-rangefinder/
Why not have rangefinders modern SLR?
After using my Nikon FG, which was made back around 1982, I have come to love is rangefinder. It makes focusing easy and accurate. Why is this system only see the old houses now? Why not modern SLR and DSLR have this Incorperated in them? All we have to rely on now is trying to accurate AF or focus manually by viewing through the viewfinder. "by definition" a rangefinder is the Leica M system used for focusing. Rangefinders have been much longer than the cameras. They began calling the digital compact rangefinders 35 mm "as we call a CD player and amplifier 'Stereo'. HXT Thanks! That was very informative.
I assume by "rangefinder" means a split image focusing screen? (By definition, a rangefinder and a Leica-M is not an SLR.) You can get a CE-EC-A or B for the screen the Canon EOS 1D-series camera, but that's for OEM screens. You can get a third party split screen image of companies as http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/. There are several reasons for this. First, autofocus has mostly eliminated the need to divide the image centered, especially in budget cameras. (Even most SLR low-budget movie does not come with a split screen image, which was an upgraded model or add-on screen.) Secondly, most of digital SLRs are not full frame. This would make the area fraction of the image so small in the viewfinder to be almost useless. Especially older people of 40 whose eyesight is not what it used to be. And money. R & D expenditures have settled a bit, but digital SLR principles were very expensive to make and manufacturers had to save as much as possible. In the days of film that rarely uses a split screen image. I would update the screen based on a screen brighter mate with composition lines (Nikon called this the screen E). A glossy screen is as good if not better than split the image but it certainly helps to have a fast (large aperture) lens for more light available for focusing. Slower (cheaper) zoom manual focus lenses do more than one task. Any other questions, feel free to email me!
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