Director's viewfinder

imageonepictures

imageonepictures

Well-known member
Hey,

What exactly is one used for and do I need one? I am shooting a drama feature next summer and a lot of scenes of city streets, graveyards and parks.
 
From what i understand you'll only need it if you're shooting with film - Digital cameras have the viewfinder.
 
Yes you need one. No matter what others say. If you don't have one your footage will be cursed and anyone watching it will have little dead girls trapped in wells torturing them.

:thumbsup: :evil:
 
all it is is a zoom lens you can carry around and look through to see how wide you want the shot.

It's not nessicary at all especially if u'r ur own DP and can look through the camera.
 
If I'm scouting locations, I'll take my digital still camera with me and shoot stills of the approximate shots that I want just to see what they look like in the 2d world.

I did just pick up a gs300 that's about the same size as my still cam that I took out today for scouting. It's about the same size as a...(whatever you call that lens thingy that directors use).

I went through five years of film school and can't for the life of me remember what those are called or what they're used for. I would think that they are to see the scene as the camera sees it. But, I would think also that you would need as many of those as there are different focal lengths of lenses.
edit; oh yeah, zoom.
 
Hey,

Well... this was all useful advice! Thanks. It would seem on my low budget money would be bbetter spent in another area like lighting. I do know Clayton Miller used one when he shot "Sterling" in HD. I guess some who use digital do use them.

I plan to shoot this film "A Life" with the original DVX100 in 24p!
 
its not so much a film versus digital thing.

It's whether you need one to know if you want the shot wide or long, and if for some reason you can't look into the camera. That's why the call them director's viewfinder. You can't buy DP'd viewfinder because he can just look through the camera.

I imagine on what you'll be shooting you wont have a another guy yelling at you if you get near the camera.

but again, its a silly piece of equipment either way.
 
I would imagine the initial reason for them would be so a director could walk around finding shots quickly instead of hauling a 35mm camera around. Probably the lens to use, but the position of the camera seems like it would be more important.

Why use it now with a digital camera in hand? Because if you have one that means people will say "look at that, it must mean he's famous and rich" directly followed by women chasing you and fast cars being handed to you for no particular reason.
 
Top one on this page appears to work for DV, HD, 16mm, and 35mm views. Am I reading that right?

The Universal Mini Viewfinder now has digital scales for Canon, Sony, and other 1/3" chip cameras. It covers the standard 16 and 35mm film formats as well as 1/2" DV and 2/3" HD cameras. The Viewfinder focal lengths are 4mm to 35mm for 1/3" chip cameras like the Canon XL1s, Sony PD-150 and Panasonic DVX-100.
 
seriously, don't waste money on these.

making a square with your fingers and moving it back and forth does literaly the same thing.

...im not kidding
 
Cheesesailor77 said:
seriously, don't waste money on these.

making a square with your fingers and moving it back and forth does literaly the same thing.

...im not kidding
Click to expand...

But that won't get you chicks. I agree though that this is not an immediately necessary item. I would get one though if someone else were paying for it cause it is pretty cool.
 
I'd consider this more or less a luxury item unless you have some actual money. I think Cheesesailor is oversimplifying things; a viewfinder is a great tool to have. But far from a necessity.
 
Cheesesailor77 said:
seriously, don't waste money on these.

making a square with your fingers and moving it back and forth does literaly the same thing.

...im not kidding
Click to expand...
*laughs* That's funny I'll try that. I've got a pic of me doing just that. Wished I knew how to make it appear on this site next to my ID name.

Cheers,

Chris
 
dougspice said:
I think Cheesesailor is oversimplifying things
Click to expand...

I'm oversimplifying only in that a viewfinder would have the focal lengths listed on it. Other that that, it's exactly the same.

Make 2 "L"s with ur index fingers and thumbs, put them together to make a "screen" (16x9 by defualt too!). Moving your hands farther away from your eye creates the exact same effect as zooming in, i.e. longer lens. Closer to your eye, wider lens.
 
Cheesesailor77 said:
I'm oversimplifying only in that a viewfinder would have the focal lengths listed on it. Other that that, it's exactly the same.

Make 2 "L"s with ur index fingers and thumbs, put them together to make a "screen" (16x9 by defualt too!). Moving your hands farther away from your eye creates the exact same effect as zooming in, i.e. longer lens. Closer to your eye, wider lens.
Click to expand...
No, I think you misunderstand I can do the virtual wide frame thing just cannot get my picture to appear.
 
I think the hand technique's just fine, but there is actually a bit of difference between looking at a hole in your hands and actually looking at the shot through a lens. Someday, you may get to where a few hundred dollars doesn't seem like much compared to the convenience of being able to say "put the camera right here, on a 28mm lens, open up the f/stop and make sure to crop out that vent right there". Assuming you're that kind of director, anyway.
 
Despite the dorky "director-wannabe" stigma, I think director's viewfinders are useful tools. They help dicipline your vision. They help with lens selection and camera location when scouting. Digital cameras are a good replacement tool, too; however, I really appreciate the format-specific mm markings that these viewfinders have. I've always wanted one, but always thought they were too pricey.
 
dougspice said:
Someday, you may get to where a few hundred dollars doesn't seem like much compared to the convenience of being able to say "put the camera right here, on a 28mm lens, open up the f/stop and make sure to crop out that vent right there". Assuming you're that kind of director, anyway.
Click to expand...

that would be great if the viewfinder offered any other information other than focal length. Unless they do and I just havnt seen one. If you know of one please direct me to it.

And yeah, I am that kind of director, I've just never bothered with a viewfinder (although I don't find the hand thing helpful either).
 
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