Swivi HD Viewfinder... dayum!

[Michael Carter]

Just got one of these... $140 at Amazon.

I've got a multi-cam "charity" shoot coming up and decided to add my D7000 to the camera package. Needed a loupe, gave this a try.

I gotta say - for the money, I'm way impressed. It's big, it doesn't use BS sticky-magnet-craprings, it fits my screen with or without the battery grip. It's got an adjustable diopter... and, get this - a shutter for the eye piece. The magnifier flips up if you want to see the screen usual size. Big honking huge rubber eyepiece. And it looks pretty dang cool too. Whole thing pops off with one set screw. Adjusts without tools. Image is nice, way less distorted than my Cavision.

Only issues - it's a little big, you need to adjust it to at least hit the sides of camera buttons. And though it has a rubber frame where it meets the camera, there's a 32nd or so of air - which sucks in harsh sun. (My current viewfinder has a similar gap, so I bring a dark cloth from my view camera days). But for this price, I'll glue some black foam or something to it.

For DSLRs, I'm not a monitor guy, unless there's a crane involved. Hate the delay. I can focus like a champ with a loupe though. I won't shoot a DSLR for video without one. I'm getting another of these.

Seriously, if you need a loupe that will fit all of your cameras, it's simply an insane, insane bargain. No sticky frame things that melt off on a hot day. Did I say "adjustable diopter"?

I always love a cheap date. Take a look at Amazon. They're all over ebay as well.

 

[sbrenner]

I've got a D7000 and was wondering if this loupe covers up the buttons to the left or right of the lcd.

 

[Josh Bass]

How well does this thing work on a 5dm2?

 

[Michael Carter]

I've got a D7000 and was wondering if this loupe covers up the buttons to the left or right of the lcd.

It's pretty wide - it's very easy to adjust from side to side without tools (uses knurled thumb screws). I have mine setup where I can use all the buttons - but moving the "left" arrow on the control circle is a little tough (but I don't use that when shooting video so I cheated it in that direction). Once a video shoot gets rolling with the D7000, all I tend to touch are the aperture & focus rings - YMMV.

A couple issues I've noticed:

When you attach the baseplate to the camera, there are several holes on the baseplate to mount cheeseplate or release plate. None of them are centered (the camera attachment screw takes up the center). This is a problem if your rig (rail or cage) can only attach dead-center - you'll have trouble getting a matte box on your setup. It looks to me like I could drill & tap the plate and have a centered hole though.

When using it with a battery grip - you extend the side "arms" all the way up (at least on a D7000). In this configuration, it's not a super-tight fit against the screen. Your eye will press it the rest of the way, but things are just too extended. It will work acceptably with a battery grip - I just never use battery grips for DSLR video, it takes an already poor form factor and raises the center of gravity even more, and gets beyond a range most matte boxes or follow focus units have ever dealt with. So not an issue with me, YMMV.

There's a plate that attaches to the base of your camera body - it has a slot in it, and the viewfinder has a sort of dovetail slide, that slides into this slot (all metal, too). When you attach a QR plate or cheese plate to the viewfinder plate - if you really torque down the QR plate, you can't get the dovetail that holds the viewfinder to the plate in or out - either it's squeezing things a bit or the screw is actually entering the dovetail space. So you have to watch overtightening. Since the viewfinder flips up, it hasn't been an issue. But the whole thing **should** be able to slide out of the baseplate (by just loosening one knob), which would give you full button access in a flash. I just got the thing and did a three camera shoot with it this morning with no issues. But... I want to play with the tightness issue and the centering issue. just sliding the dang thing right off the camera is (as the brits say) brilliant - when it works.

For $140, I'm still quite impressed and I'll get one of these for my Canon soon. I emailed them these comments and their support department replied within a day and said they would forward my notes to product development. So... support it, at least, responsive.