Z-Finder

I've been interested in this unit as I need some for of LCD viewfinder on the C5DMII. I'm going to be using this primarily on the RedRock shouldermount with RR follow focus and mattebox. I have a battery grip on the 5DMII so I'm worried the gorilla baseplate is going to make the camera too high to get the mattebox on there too. I sent email to Zacuto and haven't heard back yet. Maybe someone here could help me out. It sounds like it's not going to work. I don't want to go the adhesive route, as it seems more of a pain. It seems a thin mount under either the camera or the grip would be a good idea.

Also, what makes someone choose the 3.0 magnification vs. the 2.5? Is this an eyesight reason?

Thanks.
 
Heath,

I've got the same battery-grip style setup on my 5DII and 7D, and I much prefer the adhesive mount to any other mounting option. I also have an adhesive mount on my T2i, and this lets me quickly swap the unit between cameras without worry about any mounting issues.

--SM
 
Why do people expect free upgrade paths on everything they purchase? Seriously, people bitching out a manufacturer for improving their merchandise at a fast rate?!?

If you bought a Ford Mustang on May 29 and a new edition is released June 1, you don't get to take the car back to the dealer and demand the better stereo and engine for a nominal upgrade fee!
I'm not aware of many industries that operate like this, so I'm perplexed why people expect the cine gear industry to. Not only that, you're complaining about a revised piece of gear that may not even meet your needs. Honestly...it might suck, but you're upset that it's available at the same/lower price than what you already bought.

I bought a kindle a month ago. Amazon just announced it will be supporting the Ipad, which will no doubt be amazing. Should I ask Amazon for my money back since there's a better device on the market?

Zacuto is being extraordinarily generous on this one.
 
Bobonli said:
Why do people expect free upgrade paths on everything they purchase? Seriously, people bitching out a manufacturer for improving their merchandise at a fast rate?!?

If you bought a Ford Mustang on May 29 and a new edition is released June 1, you don't get to take the car back to the dealer and demand the better stereo and engine for a nominal upgrade fee!
I'm not aware of many industries that operate like this, so I'm perplexed why people expect the cine gear industry to. Not only that, you're complaining about a revised piece of gear that may not even meet your needs. Honestly...it might suck, but you're upset that it's available at the same/lower price than what you already bought.

I bought a kindle a month ago. Amazon just announced it will be supporting the Ipad, which will no doubt be amazing. Should I ask Amazon for my money back since there's a better device on the market?

Zacuto is being extraordinarily generous on this one.
Click to expand...


and... your point is ?
 
stephenmick said:
Heath,

I've got the same battery-grip style setup on my 5DII and 7D, and I much prefer the adhesive mount to any other mounting option. I also have an adhesive mount on my T2i, and this lets me quickly swap the unit between cameras without worry about any mounting issues.

--SM
Click to expand...

I thought the T2i had a differently shaped LCD than the 7D. How does the standard Z Finder that goes on the 7D fit on the T2i?
 
It is "differently-shaped" but the actual LCD size seems consistent from the 7D and 5DII. So there's a bit less room around the frame on the T2i, but it still fits fine and functions properly.

--SM
 
stephenmick said:
Heath,

I've got the same battery-grip style setup on my 5DII and 7D, and I much prefer the adhesive mount to any other mounting option. I also have an adhesive mount on my T2i, and this lets me quickly swap the unit between cameras without worry about any mounting issues.

--SM
Click to expand...

Thank you for replying. Does the adhesive stick really well? I've heard that it does if you do the PBloom approach of letting it sit with a battery brick on it for 24hrs before using for the first time.
 
The only time I've had any failure of the adhesive is after a week of shooting in near-100 degree temperatures in 95% humidity in the jungles of Brazil. And after having shot in the rain.

So, yes, I'd say it sticks really, really well. And I'd also recommend the weighted method as Bloom suggests.
 
squig said:
Unfortunately the baseplate design while an improvement on the sticky frame won't work for everyone. I have one of those Korean shoulder rigs and a Really Right Stuff quick release and baseplate. This mounts the 5D at the right height for my Genus mattebox. The added height with a Gorilla baseplate wouldn't allow me to mount the mattebox on my rails.

The other problem I have is after a long days shooting in the sun the adhesive on the V2 sticky frame started to melt and it's not sticking too well now and there's some light leakage. I have some z-bands and they're holding everything together. I'm thinking the best solution is some gaff or a bead of black silicone around the frame.

Steve have you considered a design where the mounting frame attaches to the viewfinder like on those cheap eBay DSLR LCD hoods?
The other solution would be to design a quick release system or team up with Really Right Stuff to design a QR baseplate for the z-finder. I love the speed of the QR switching from shoulder to steadicam to jib in seconds. The antitwist baseplate also stops the camera body from moving due to the torque from a follow focus.

Is the V2 2.5 or 3x?
Click to expand...

There are lots of options for you, one we can get you more adhesive strips just by sending me an email steve@zacuto.com The other option may be to use the Z-Finder Jr. baseplate mount which is sandwiched in between your camera and existing baseplate. That shouldn't add any height for the matte box problem. if you want to get ambitious you can try to thread (tap) whatever baseplate you are using with our Z-Finder framemount. Lastly you could buy the Zacuto Cinema baseplate: http://store.zacuto.com/DSLR-Baseplate.html This is a incredible piece of gear. Not only will you be able to use you Z-Finder with any camera on the market, you'll be able to align you matte box and FF to any camera large or small and use the Z-Finder. Then since every hole on the Unviersal DSLR baseplate is 15mm you can use all of your existing non-Zacuto parts to create a whole kit around this baseplate. It has mounting holes to offset for a shoulder mount, hand grip mounting holes, tripod mount, it can turn into infinite gorilla setups and Cinema setups. I looks heavy but it is extremely light. It's a complete transformer.
Steve
 
Carcaridon said:
I've been interested in this unit as I need some for of LCD viewfinder on the C5DMII. I'm going to be using this primarily on the RedRock shouldermount with RR follow focus and mattebox. I have a battery grip on the 5DMII so I'm worried the gorilla baseplate is going to make the camera too high to get the mattebox on there too. I sent email to Zacuto and haven't heard back yet. Maybe someone here could help me out. It sounds like it's not going to work. I don't want to go the adhesive route, as it seems more of a pain. It seems a thin mount under either the camera or the grip would be a good idea.

Also, what makes someone choose the 3.0 magnification vs. the 2.5? Is this an eyesight reason?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I posted below talking about various mounting solutions with non Zacuto gear.
The difference between the 3x and 2.5x is preference. Some people want to really blow the image up to get critical focus. It's makes the pixels larger and some want to make the pixels a bit smaller and only magnify the image 2.5 times. It's a preference. In the pre-orders its about 65% 3x, 25% 2.5x and 10% Z-Finder Jr.s.
steve
 
Now that is customer service...

Now that is customer service...

I contacted Zacuto this morning to take Mr. Weiss up on his offer for the upgrade parts to my Z-Finder V2 that I purchased last week. Within a couple of hours I had already received a reply from Rachel and after one more email exchange I received my purchase order totaling a whopping $0.00! I even offered to pay for shipping, but was told it was covered.

Now that is the way to endear your customers! Thank you Zacuto!!



zacuto said:
You bring up a good point that we had many conversations about at Zacuto.

First, from the sales and feedback we've gotten most people still prefer the sticky frame over the baseplate. I prefer the baseplate especially if you are using any of our gorilla kits because they attach super quickly. In handheld mode with no support system the sticky frame is nice because it's light but if you want a more a rock solid fit then the baseplate is a better option. This I see as a preference. If you are happy with your sticky frame continue to use it, if not the baseplate is an option for you. Regardless, you have a workable solution.

The Z-Finder was the first optical viewfinder on the market next to the Hoodman. Our Version one was rushed to market due to extreme demand. Our V2 was in development at the same time and came out shortly thereafter. We did replace the 100 V1's free of charge (because the V1 product was substandard and really more a prototype product). That is not the case with the V2. If the Z-Finder v2 was substandard, I would be forced to make a free upgrade. But look at the reviews, they for the most part are overwhelmingly good. I don't believe the anti-fog to be a defect. No other company on the market has an anti-fog solution as of yet, probably because it's very hard to do. This is a new technology that wasn't available before. It's taken us about 6 months to figure out the right formula for the anti-fog coating so it doesn't cut the resolution of the optics.

The other issue is that a lot is learned by having products in the field in actual use. We are trying to improve our products like I think everyone would like us to. Time is partly a factor in this, designs, molds and such take a long time to create. Realize we are only one year into this. We released the Z-Finder v1 a year ago at NAB. Since then we have created five different models within one year. This is why we make products in the USA, 30 miles from Zacuto HQ. It allows us to create extremely high quality products and deliver them fast to the marketplace. Creating products in China takes three times longer with all of the back and forth and tweaking (plus the quality is not there). As we have discussed in the past, this luxury does add to the cost.

I think we did the right thing by making the Z-Finder & Pro upgradable. We could have gone the Canon route and made the current Z-Finder incompatible with previous V2's. Then you would have had to retire the Z-Finder V2 and have to buy the new model. Making the V2 universal to work with the 2.5x optic was the problem, so with the development of our Z-Finder extender frames, that made it possible. It took a while to come up with that idea and time to create the molds.

Now to address how we can make the pro for the same cost as the V2. When we created the V2 we were ordering in way less quantities becuase at that time the market was smaller. As time went on, the market for Z-Finders increased, now we are creating our components in larger quantities so the cost per item has gone down. Just like how Canon can keep coming out with better cameras for lower cost or dropping the price on existing cameras. That's how we can put the Pro out at the same cost as the V2.

I'm going to try my best to do what I think is fair (most companies would not even have this conversation with you). So here is my proposal.

If you bought your Z-Finder march 1st and after you have two options free of charge with proof of purchase:
1. You can send back your Z-Finder at the end of April and we will up-grade it to a Pro.
2. We can send you the gorilla baseplate, frame, V2 protective upgrade, 2 extender frames (if you are not interested in the optic upgrade or interested in sending your V2 back to us).
As a bonus, we will include whichever Z-finder mounting frame of your choice, tall camera, battery grips or standard sized camera frames.

You will need to email Rachel at Kenton@Zacuto.com for the above options so you can get an RMA.

For existing Z-Finder users who bought your Z-Finder Prior to March 1st:
1. If you are only interested in the optic upgrade (your choice 2.5x or 3x) is available for $45 and I'll add an additional 15% off that. You do have to ship your Z-Finder back to Zacuto to get this upgrade done, it's not something that can be done in the field. Contact Kenton@Zacuto.com for this.
2. Any other Z-Finder upgrades will also get 15% off. Their are upgrade kits, just use coupon code Dslr15 at www.store.Zacuto.com

All of these options will be available around the 1st of May.

I think this is fair and still allows Zacuto to continually try to improve our Z-Finder line without upsetting current Z-Finder users.
Steve
Click to expand...
 
zacuto said:
I posted below talking about various mounting solutions with non Zacuto gear.
The difference between the 3x and 2.5x is preference. Some people want to really blow the image up to get critical focus. It's makes the pixels larger and some want to make the pixels a bit smaller and only magnify the image 2.5 times. It's a preference. In the pre-orders its about 65% 3x, 25% 2.5x and 10% Z-Finder Jr.s.
steve
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information. How would one go about placing an order and getting the Jr. mount for the Pro version? I don't see this on the website store anywhere and seems like it will suit my needs perfectly.
 
Has anyone heard about buying the Jr. If anyone hears what the plan is for that configuration, I'd love to hear it as it seems like it would be the most ideal for me.

Thanks.
 
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