a huge improvement over rangefinder The SLR is a great alternative to a rangefinder. But not necessarily an improvement because rangefinders often show what i

a huge improvement over rangefinder The SLR is a great alternative to a rangefinder. But not necessarily an improvement because rangefinders often show what is outside the image frame, the view through the finder can be close to f1 without weight or bulk, and the absence of a mirror tends to make cameras quieter. To be fair I always thought of SLR’s as the pinnacle in accord with decades of marketing. Until I bought my first rangefinder, an Olympus 35RC which is not all that much much bigger than a pack of cigarettes. I still like SLR’s as an alternative experience to rangefinders (and zone focus viewfinder cameras and view cameras, and TLR cameras). And just to make a pedanticism, view cameras also let the photographer compose through the taking lens…without a pentaprism in the way.