d7100 loupe?

homestar_kevin

homestar_kevin

Well-known member
So, I want to buy a loupe for my d7100.

It was my favorite and most used accessory on my t2i.

Now, with the t2i, I was able to get away with this cheapie, and I loved it. It served me well and has been a really useful addition.

I don't think I'll be able to get away with that on the d7100.

The 3.2 inch screen is giving me trouble in trying to find a cost effective loupe.

Any suggestions?
 
I know the 5dmkIII and d800/d4 have a 3.2 inch LCD as well, but can anyone confirm that they fit the d7100 appropriately?

Or has no one really been there yet?
 
Yeah, it appears they are interchangeable. I've emailed the LCDVF guys for confirmation though.

What's wrong with the adapter?

Do you mean the screen protector piece that the loupe attaches too?
 
I have been looking at it. It attaches to the screen via magnets. Not very fond of that idea.
 
I'm very happy with the $150 Swivi VF (Amazon has 'em).

PROS: No sticky-magnet BS, uses a baseplate and dovetail. Fully adjustable side to side & up/down without tools. Will work with battery grip (not the best thing for video though). You can access all the 7100 buttons, but it's tight. Pops off in a second without tools to use the prism or let a client look. Adjustable diopter. Shutter to close off the eyepiece. Cheap.

CONS: The baseplate screws into your tripod hole. it has three holes on the bottom. Attaching a QR or cheeseplate or baseplate to this moves the camera off center by 15mm, left or right. Not a problem on rails or even with a follow focus, but your lens won't line up with your matte box any more. I got a block of aluminum and drilled some holes and made an adapter, but I'll get an adjustable baseplate (Ikan) in the next week or so.

For the $$, it's probably the best solution out there. Would be a great system at twice the price.
 
Michael, why would you say that a battery grip with a dslr is not a good option? Apart from more power, doesn't it give you more stability and a better form? The DSLR from a rectangular shape becomes a square making it less shaky. What are other people's opinion?
 
sharry said:
Michael, why would you say that a battery grip with a dslr is not a good option? Apart from more power, doesn't it give you more stability and a better form? The DSLR from a rectangular shape becomes a square making it less shaky. What are other people's opinion?
Click to expand...

Certainly a YMMV opinion, but I find the DSLR's already a lousy form factor and making it taller doesn't help. Mine is always on rails though, and shoulder mounting with a grip is just problematic (to me anyway, just more stuff stacked up). Many matte boxes won't go that high. I never just handhold the camera, I find the jello gets too intense. So much stuff is designed around a long & narrow camera so it's never worked for me for video, and I find it gets way too top-heavy on a slider. But for stills? Wouldn't be without one.

DSLR battery life's impressive - my current rigs have room to drop the battery door so no problem switching - I took an angle grinder to my last baseplate so I could get at the battery!
 
sharry said:
Michael, why would you say that a battery grip with a dslr is not a good option? Apart from more power, doesn't it give you more stability and a better form? The DSLR from a rectangular shape becomes a square making it less shaky. What are other people's opinion?
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't see how I lived without battery grips for so long. I recently purchased a grip for my D7100 and now the camera actually FITS my hands. I'm not constantly worried about dropping it and it gives it a bit more heft, which I like. Every time I pick up my D5200 with that tiny grip, it doesn't feel RIGHT anymore. I have big hands and freakishly long fingers (think: ET)...okay, maybe not ET-long, but pretty long. So a grip allows me to fit all of my fingers on the grip and it feels SECURE. This is how the camera should have come from the factory. Double the battery life is never a bad thing either. Plus, having the ability to run the camera on AA batteries in a pinch is a pretty sweet bonus.

If you haven't tried using a battery grip with your camera, you're missing out. I strongly recommend giving it a try, especially if you have sasquatch hands. The ability to put your pinky ON the camera is a wonderful thing. :)
 
I use a grip for stills constantly (as mentioned in my post), for the reasons you mention. Used them since the film days. Even found one for my 8008 series Nikons - some news shooter in Florida commissioned a batch of them since Nikon never made 'em.

Just don't like them for video, for the reasons I've mentioned. Again, it's a YMMV situation, but I have no desire to handhold a DSLR for video. Even when I want a handheld look, I still shoulder mount or use a fig-rig style setup. Too much jello for my tastes with just hands, even using a loupe hard against my eye.

I had to do a backwards walk last week while a celeb entered a crowded meet & greet, and used the Opteka square-shaped sorta-fig rig for a 200+ foot walk around corners and through doorways. Footage came out much more stable than I can do handheld. (You just want a spotter holding your belt for those walks!) The Opteka's pretty cool for a hundred bucks, but a battery grip wouldn't work well on it - once things get top heavy, the camera droops around the axis, you just can't tighten the base plate enough!
 
Michael Carter said:
I use a grip for stills constantly (as mentioned in my post), for the reasons you mention. Used them since the film days. Even found one for my 8008 series Nikons - some news shooter in Florida commissioned a batch of them since Nikon never made 'em.

Just don't like them for video, for the reasons I've mentioned. Again, it's a YMMV situation, but I have no desire to handhold a DSLR for video. Even when I want a handheld look, I still shoulder mount or use a fig-rig style setup. Too much jello for my tastes with just hands, even using a loupe hard against my eye.

I had to do a backwards walk last week while a celeb entered a crowded meet & greet, and used the Opteka square-shaped sorta-fig rig for a 200+ foot walk around corners and through doorways. Footage came out much more stable than I can do handheld. (You just want a spotter holding your belt for those walks!) The Opteka's pretty cool for a hundred bucks, but a battery grip wouldn't work well on it - once things get top heavy, the camera droops around the axis, you just can't tighten the base plate enough!
Click to expand...

Interesting. I actually prefer a grip for video too. I'm not a huge fan of handheld video, but there have been times when it's necessary for me, since most of my shooting is of family/friends and often it's a spontaneous moment where I didn't figure I'd need a tripod (one of these days I'm gonna learn, haha). I've shot handheld both with and without the grip, but I find that since I have a better grip (no pun intended) on the camera, my footage is a bit more stable than without it, the added heft helps too, since I'm really not filming for a long time. There's no way my video quality would fly for a professional job, though, so I'm not under any illusions that what I do is as good as it could be if I invested some money and got proper equipment.

As for walking backwards...I have enough trouble walking forwards, I know I'd end up flat on my back if I tried walking backwards while looking through a camera's monitor, trying to keep focus and keeping the person in the frame. ;)

I've been looking at rigs to turn my DSLR into a shoulder mount for the added stability, but most of them are quite expensive and since I do mostly unpaid projects (personal or for family), that price is rather prohibitive. The guys over at FilmRiot made a couple of homemade rigs that seemed to work for them, so I might go that route. I'm more of a DIY guy anyway. If I ever start doing paying jobs, I think a proper rig would be the first thing I bought, though.
 
If you want to go cheap, the Opteka CSX-1 with belt and weight & second handle (about $120) I much better than the price would indicate.
 
I bought this one from Amazon, and so far really like it. I think the Zacuto's are waaaaay overpriced. I tried a Swivi VF-3, but it wasn't cheap, it was VERY large and bulky, it was nearly impossible to adjust it properly to eliminate light leaks around the edges of the EVF, and the mounting bracket was terrible--made it really hard to access the rear buttons. There is a VF-4 now with a modified bracket that is supposed to make it easier to work the rear buttons, but, it's also $180+ whereas I got mine as a "warehouse deal" from Amazon for less than $40. I've been using mine actively for 4 months now and have had no problems with it at all. It mounts and un-mounts quickly via a adhesive-backed mounting frame, it tilts up for quick viewing, and the diopter works well too. Really, I think this is by far the best bang-for-your-buck available right now for a quality loupe.
 
I'm still looking for the perfect loupe... can't see myself ever gluing anything to my cameras though. (the Amazon reviews for the cowboy studios unit are full of "the glue came off"). Just too hot in Texas for glue, I had the diopter of a cavision loupe drop out when the glue got too hot in the case. I do have to leave my VF3 a little loose on the side-to-side when I need to get at the buttons though.
 
I just added a Hoodman loop with the machined tripod attachment - very well made, but its $200 to the D100. the Opteka (used on my D7000) at $120 from Amazon while not as well made and a little large (but it's tripod type bottom mount lets is come off very quickly if you need to - as does the Hoodman) it still a good deal I think. I also would never glue a loop to my camera.
 
JeffD7K said:
I just added a Hoodman loop with the machined tripod attachment - very well made, but its $200 to the D100. the Opteka (used on my D7000) at $120 from Amazon while not as well made and a little large (but it's tripod type bottom mount lets is come off very quickly if you need to - as does the Hoodman) it still a good deal I think. I also would never glue a loop to my camera.
Click to expand...

I hesitated a little bit about gluing the mounting frame to my display, but here are the factors that swayed me:

No way am I spending $350+ for the Zacuto. I see tons of them for sale used, and they rarely seem to sell even at reduced prices. I looked at Hoodman, but I found them to be very cheap and flimsy feeling for the money.

I already use a Vello LCD screen protector on my D7000 (best $14.95 I ever spent) WAY better than the plastic screen protectors Nikon provides--much stronger, much more scratch resistant, much thinner and lower profile (you forget it's even there). So, the reality is that I'm gluing the loupe mounting bracket to the screen protector, not to the D7000 itself.

I think that if you follow the installation instructions carefully (i.e. first warm up the LCD screen, then clean it thoroughly/properly, then use heavy items like books to keep the frame firmu pressed against the LCD glass, and, wait for a few hours) I think you'll have no problems. Don't forget, the factory top and rear LCD glass is attached with--you guessed it--adhesive. I think that the vast majority of the folks who've had problems are due to their own fault, (i.e. not following the directions) instead of any fault with the product.

Lastly, for those folks complaining that the adhesive "didn't hold up well in the hot Texas sun," if they're keeping their camera gear stored in a hot car in Texas in the middle of the summer, then they're going to have a lot more to worry about than a mounting bracket falling off--lenses, camera CPU's, storage cards, etc are all very sensitive to heat. Some common sense is needed. I got my loupe back in August, and used it on shoots in Death Valley and Joshua Tree with daytime temps in the high 90's and low 100's, and never had a problem. I also really like having the tripod mount on the bottom of my DSLR free to use L-brackets and other quick-release plates with or without using my battery grip--which is another big benefit to using the adhesive mount--very easy to switch between using my grip or not with no worries about buying extra mounting accessories.
 
Last edited:
BigDawg said:
Lastly, for those folks complaining that the adhesive "didn't hold up well in the hot Texas sun," if they're keeping their camera gear stored in a hot car in Texas in the middle of the summer, then they're going to have a lot more to worry about than a mounting bracket falling off--lenses, camera CPU's, storage cards, etc are all very sensitive to heat. Some common sense is needed.
Click to expand...

I've got plenty of common sense, which includes not saying "no" to good paying gigs, even when it's 104 out. It's a simple reality that gear gets carried all over the place on a shooting day, often outside, and it gets moved in cases. I've spent entire days with grips lugging a dozen black bags & cases from location to location. The stuff gets freakishly hot, no matter how many pop-up tents and shade trees you have. If heat damages some gear, it's the cost of business down here. But I'm still using glass I shot fashion and catalog work with in the 90's. JCP kept us hopping all over Florida and Texas for years (plenty of shooting winter coats in the summer, fun for the talent), but I've only had heat problems since the DSLR craze brought so many new manufacturers into the market - glue and handgrips melting off mostly.

Plenty of people like the magnets & glue solution, plenty don't. Loupes are as controversial as anything around here. I'm kind of picky about my stuff staying in original shape... when I sell every year or so, a like-new item with all the packaging gets top dollar or an easy trade in. But there are guys gluing magnets to their RED Touch LCDs, and that's one pricy piece of gear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top