RARE Kilfitt Kilfascope Reflex Housing in Contax Rangefinder Mount order Camera for Leica Lens

RARE Kilfitt Kilfascope Reflex Housing in Contax Rangefinder Mount Camera for Leica Lens

Kilfitt Reflex Housing in Contax Rangefinder Mount (may also fit Nikon rangefinder)

Takes Leica screw mount lenses on the front.


"The Kilfascope was one of Kilfitt's second series housings. It has a forty-five degree angled finder that provides a right-side-up and laterally-correct view similar to Kilfitt's earlier Repriscope. The mirror is spring-loaded in the up position. Pressing down on a button order on the left side of the housing lowers the mirror and a connecting cable plugged into the right side holds the mirror in the correct position. This cable screws into the camera's cable release socket. Pressing down on the button causes the pin to withdraw, releasing the mirror, followed by the firing of the shutter. It is impossible to get out of sync and the action is as fast as the photographer's finger, permitting rapid firing and film advancing. Re-lowering the mirror is awkward. The view in the finder is reduced but bright with both the landscape and portrait views outlined by overlapping horizontal and vertical boxes. The camera may be rotated, allowing either view to be used without having to turn the housing on its side. Short-mount lenses included a 90mm f3.5, a 135mm f4, 150mm f4.5, 300mm f5.6 and a 400mm f5.6, still famed for their lightness and sharpness. Many were sold with adaptors for use on Arriflex movie cameras. All came in Leica-thread. Focal lengths 150mm and longer will focus to infinity on a Contax-mount housing as seen below. Unfortunately, their single helical focusing rings tend to shift whenever one closes down the diaphragm. In addition, their focusing helicoids turn in the opposite direction of Nikkor lenses in Nikon mount. Early versions of these lenses had manual diaphragms. Later ones were preset. Kilfitt used rubber bands for its focusing and aperture rings. In many cases these have stretched and no longer fit tightly, or are even missing. In addition, their back rings are so thick that they get in the way of mounting the reflex housing on a large-based tripod."


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