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Idea of a new design for viewfinders/displayloupes... opinions?
  • What I've ever really been missing in present cameras is a proper viewfinder: I'm talking about the sort of angled viewfinder cameras like Aaton XTR or Arri Alexa are equipped with, where you're able to have the camera on one of your sides when looking through. The only thing nowadays digital cameras are most probably equipped with is a display. I know there are a lot of solutions like display loupes or EVF's, but I don't think any of them being comfortable. I don't like the idea of adding more bulk to the camera with an EVF, as you're not solely adding the EVF but also a proper mounting solution, powering and have the hdmi/sdi cables hanging around (not to mention that good EVF's are pretty expensive and most people already use a monitor which adds enough bulk and cables etc..). So go to the display loupe way? Well, I think most display loupes available are absolutely unflexible as you've to position the camera right in front of your eyes. That's neither convenient nor always possible, depending on tripod, rig or other accessories. The only design I liked was that of the Varavon Loupe EX for GH1/2 (even though i never owned one) as it used the flexibility of the flip- and rotateable display. But again the mobility of the viewfinder depended on the display. So what about cameras with a fixed display like BMPCC? I've come up with the idea for a fully rotateable display loupe using mirrors or prisms inside to work like a kind of magnificating periscope. As I don't have the manual abilities nor the knowledge to built something like this I thought I'd share my thoughts here. I've attached a rough schematic diagramm to visualize it. I know the market for this would be marginal but do you believe this to be useful? Probably theres something similar to this already existing and I just don't know it? I'd like to hear some opinions, suggestions... if someone has the mechanical skills to built this or wants to refine/improve the idea... feel free to do it ;)

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  • Thanks, that covers the same problem but that doesn't solve it. I'm searching for a more general solution e.g also for cameras that only have a display and no viewfinder . And as I stated above, I also believe this to be less of a problem for GH2 because of the flipable display.