Re: finders - hacking solutions anyone?

[Clayton Tume <tume@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob

I've used one of Gordon Marks handheld 8x10 "Hobo" view cameras, it had a
120 Nikkor on it and he had a regular door peep sight on it for viewing!
Worked very well, he had a bubble level mounted directly in front of it so
you could keep an eye on levels as you were hand shooting....very ingenious
and cheap too!

Clayton

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Monaghan <rmonagha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <rmonagha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2000 6:15 PM
Subject: finders - hacking solutions anyone?


>
> I find the subject of ultrawide finders to be quite interesting,
> particularly after pricing some commercial examples (aargh!) ;-) The idea
> of spending $450 for a finder is disconcerting, but even the russian 21mm
> and leica finders cost more than some of my 35mm SLR lenses (nikkors at
> that!)
>
> has anyone come up with any decent finder alternatives? Ralph
> Fuerbringer's point (re: $450 linhof is similar to 0.42x superwide
adapter)
> suggests this might be one low cost way to create a suitable very wide
> finder?
>
> Unfortunately, the Ikelite flash shoe mount finders would be ideal, except
> they aren't very wide (like 20mm?) and they _are_ painted dayglo orange
> and they are pretty big and still circa $100 US. These finders are used in
> scuba diving underwater, where you can't use a regular viewfinder (e.g. on
> nikonos) for lack of wide angle coverage or ability to get close while
> wearing a mask. The eye relief on these Ikelite finders is tremendous -
> like five or six inches - and they support a variety of standard 35mm lens
> masks and also come with custom plastic screens you can scribe your own
> pattern as needed. Grids show typical barrel distortion, but they are
> pretty accurate. Gizmo is size of a small lemon; price was around $100 US
> last time I bought one (albeit some years ago)...
>
> I have been experimenting with a Topcon rectilinear fisheye lens assembly
> from a digital light processor - the projection TVs that use Texas
> Instruments mirror chips to project big screen bright tv images. fisheye
> is about 1 1/2" in diam. and very wide angle coverage, projects from flat
to
> flat screen (e.g., pretty rectilinear) and bright (no iris though) -
> coverage is small, to match digital chip, but relatively close to the eye
> pupil size (7mm etc.). Just another alternative for finder hackers to
> consider? (these are local surplus examples, any others out there?)
>
> I suppose one of the new 0.42x or similar mutars would be useful, as
> ralph notes, with the right masking. I have found at least 2 types, the
> old solid glass ones are heavy and big, designed for 35mm and 2 1/4"
> cameras; the newer ones (often claiming to be "autofocus" and "titanium"
> and "macro") are much lighter and cheaper ($20 used from Goodwin photo
> for last used one I bought) and might make decent finders at that?
>
> anybody got any good examples of finder alternatives that work for panos
> and ultrawides without leaving that "empty wallet" feeling? ;-) Thanks!
>
> regards bobm