mf lens live view focus aid

[pdccameras]

HI all,

Has anyone tried one of these monoculars that clip on to your eyeglasses to aid in live view focusing of manual focus lenses? This one from Edmund's is relatively inexpenisve ($26 USD), has 2.5X mag and an adjustable diopter. Extreme geekiness aside, it looks like it might work if 2.5X is enough power.

Here is the link: http://www.scientificsonline.com/economy-clip-on-monocular.html

and here is a pic:



Best,

Paul

[estudleon]

Nice to dissamble complex lenses

Rino

[poilu]

who need liveview ?
the mirrorless fans

[rbelyell]

well, geekiness aside, i have lately atarted admitting to myself the obvious: that i tend greatly towards setups that inconvenience me the least, as those that i find inconvenient tend to get left at home, regardless of IQ. for me that means that lack of vf/evf is really a non starter; bulky solutions give way to non use, troublesome extra steps give way to more conveniient equipment. ive finally made this admission out of necessity of cluttering my home with equipment and accesories i really dont use and the realization that my 'best gear'-my 5d and gorgeous but large heavy lenses-tend to get left behind in favor of my ep2, evf and small slightly less gorgeous lenses.

longwinded way of saying that this might indeed be a good product, but i'll bet after a short while, the inconvenience and impracticality of it will cause you to ultimately ignore it and it will, like many of my acceosries, end up gathering dust on one of your shelves.

[pdccameras]

[pdccameras]

[visualopsins]

Who needs live view or mirrorless?
The viewfinder fans

this eye-telescope would work as well for magnifying viewfinder!

Now where is that 82A?

[Jethro Tull]

What if you don't wear glasses? i was expecting one of those loupe gadgets that stick on the LCD

[rbelyell]

JT, by the time we get through adding so many accessories to these 'compact' cams the question becomes why not just carry aoround a real dslr? seems to me these add-ons just defeat the main attraction of mirrorless cams--portability.

btw, those extension loupes can be easily fogged by (locomotive) breath.

[SXR_Mark]

[rbelyell]

mark, you are skating (away) on thin ice (of a new day)--oh no, i cant stop JT subreferencing...

[poilu]

I made a £4 loupe for my 5DII that I use for video
first time I wanted to use it for macro, I had a big laugh, the flower was moving with the wind and was making waves on the lcd (cmos serial reading), I wonder if mirrorless lcd are faster than my 5DII otherwise it is a big joke
last week I made a night series with the 28mm and I started with the loupe, then I think wtf I am doing, I continue without loupe and had 0 out of focus
only time I needed this focus aid was when I tried samples @ 25600 iso, it was very dark and I had problem to prefocus the circle of fire even with the liveview
I always have the loupe with me, but I don't get any pleasure to shot like that

[nixland]

For last several months I use this most of the time.

Reason? I use f/1.2 - f/2 aperture most of the time
Because I am in the middle of exploring lots of fast lenses at their widest aperture. And relying on AF-confirm chip, even the EMF/Dandelion one, at that aperture doesn't help at all ... most of my shots were out of focus
Using the LCD loupe increases the in-focus shot rate significantly.

It also mimics the viewfinder. A lot more stable than using bare live view LCD.

The disadvantages are :
- the battery drops significantly.
- It could decrease the LCD and the sensor lifetime (how far? I don't know )
- It slows down the focusing speed, because I usually have to select the focus area and then zoom the screen.

But so far I am enjoying it.

[Kram]

I tried Live View for the first time yesterday. For me, if I'm on a tripod, it's a good way to insure exact focus. I did learn that I am about 98% in focus without it, which made me feel good.

Nixland, do you hand-hold your camera when using your LCD loupe?

PS: When the Old Man with the telescope cuts the final strand, you'd better lick two fingers clean before you shake his hand.

[nixland]

[Kram]

[nixland]

I wish Canon could add new feature in their latest firmware that on live view mode we can have a partial zoom in the frame, like the example below, so we can focus and compose at the same time.

There is a 3rd party firmware called Magic Lantern that could make our camera have this feature but I still don't have guts to install it

[nixland]

This is the example of Magic Lantern feature from Youtube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTupJcjQC-o

It also has focus peaking feature where it will highlight the part of the photo that is in focus.

Has anyone tried it? Is it safe?

[Kram]

As a pro it really amazes me that it's taken this long to get to some serious answers to truly accurate focus. Autofocus works great for most amateurs but now with these new post-focus lenses soon to be available (Lytro), focus selection will be totally controllable in post processing. Nothing will ever be out of focus again unless by intent. The skill it took to master focus will be eclipsed by the new technology.

Magic Lantern looks interesting but like you, I am a bit afraid to install it!

[ChromaticAberration]

I dont get the need for the 'magic lantern' thing, won't the live view allow for zomming in? At least my shitty 1000D body does have that feature, I guess all superior range bodies will have it too so after composing one just has to zoom the live view, focus and take the shot.. am I missing something?

The loupe looks really useful but it does have it's drawbacks. As I could investigate, since it has some zooming effect it will clip a portion of the available image and of course it's very bulky.

There is also the other option that is actually quite old, the viewfinder extension. Very cheap and most will give you a zoom of 2.3x, cropping will occur of course, and one will obviously loose some light being further away from the original viewfinder. It's very compact and discreet.

[nixland]

I think the magic lantern feature could help us shot faster and more comfortable (no need to click the zoom button twice), specially for uncontrolled moments when using very shallow DOF. For still objects it is not needed

No clipping in the loupe. It only helps our eye to see the LCD in closer distance. I could see 100% of the LCD frame. Without loupe we have to extend our arms too see the LCD

Previously I use the viewfinder extension. Yes it helps. But again, for shallow DOF shots, where we plan to put the focus not in the center, it could be a problem using center focus.

[nixland]

Plus, the hood help me to view the LCD under bright light.

Well, once again I only use it when using very shallow DOF aperture. Otherwise I only use the hood to preview the image when needed (under bright light)

[Kram]

In a situation where one is hand-holding, the loupe would be great for live view focusing.

I agree with your concern that it may shorten sensor and LCD life. This is the main reason why I'll not get (make!) one- for now.

So nixland, you made this loupe, by adapting a chimney finder from some medium format camera, right?

I am rather tempted....

[nixland]