C200: Director's viewfinder help.
- Thread starter peter917
- Start date
Run&Gun
Veteran
There are some inexpensive ones out there(a few that are less than $200, just search B&H), but they do not use the actual taking lens that you would be shooting with. THOSE units are very expensive and specialized.
Check out Timur Civan's Blog. He did a post a few years ago on making a directors VF out of a mirrorless camera(you'll have to scroll down a ways).
Actually, here is a direct link to the article.
http://timurcivan.com/2015/08/cinematographer-tools-building-a-directors-finder/
Check out Timur Civan's Blog. He did a post a few years ago on making a directors VF out of a mirrorless camera(you'll have to scroll down a ways).
Actually, here is a direct link to the article.
http://timurcivan.com/2015/08/cinematographer-tools-building-a-directors-finder/
I bought the Alan Gordon mini a few weeks ago for $180, and I'm pretty happy with it: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...00_03_MINIPOC_Mini_Director_s_Viewfinder.html
I haven't had the time to seriously test how close the field of view is between the markings on the viewfinder and lenses mounted on a C100, but right off the bat, I can tell it's close. It'll go from 200mm to 18mm at the widest, so at least I know if something doesn't quite fit at 18mm, I have to go to my Tokina.
One slight issue is there is a marking for 75mm instead of 85mm, but that's not too far off from 85. It also gets a bit blurry to my eyes around 150 and especially at 200mm, but t's still good enough for framing.
I haven't had the time to seriously test how close the field of view is between the markings on the viewfinder and lenses mounted on a C100, but right off the bat, I can tell it's close. It'll go from 200mm to 18mm at the widest, so at least I know if something doesn't quite fit at 18mm, I have to go to my Tokina.
One slight issue is there is a marking for 75mm instead of 85mm, but that's not too far off from 85. It also gets a bit blurry to my eyes around 150 and especially at 200mm, but t's still good enough for framing.
Spartacus
Veteran
Not that fancy, but an old T2i with a LCD loupe and a pistol grip works great as director's viewfinder if you're shooting with Canon Cinema EOS camera and EOS mount lenses.
The advantage is being able to record footage on pre-lighting days, when your A-cam might be not available.
A few years back this even was considered to be a nice indie-cine setup
The advantage is being able to record footage on pre-lighting days, when your A-cam might be not available.
A few years back this even was considered to be a nice indie-cine setup
indiawilds
Veteran
I agree. S35 is very close to the 1.6 crop of the Canon APS-C DSLR cameras. You can carry one to get an idea and get some record shots too.
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
The Artemis app is quite accurate and can be set to emulate a wide variety of cameras and lenses (within the range of the phone's camera on the wide end). If it means anything, this is all but universal on industry sets. The optical finder that uses the taking lens is still popular, but it always had the drawback of only one person at a time using it, which is a great selling point of the app. It will also store metadata with images taken in the app that indicate focal length, location and inclination.
I haven't seen an Alan Gordon type finder or mini-finder in use for probably five years.I don't even know what happened to my last one.
I haven't seen an Alan Gordon type finder or mini-finder in use for probably five years.I don't even know what happened to my last one.
Run&Gun
Veteran
But what if you wanna use the app AND the taking lens? And have about $6500 burning a hole in your pocket...
https://www.cinema5d.com/artemis-prime-directors-viewfinder-and-app-for-ios-and-android/