Low angle viewing solution

[Jac@stafford.net]

It can be difficult for someone with arthritis to kneel and bend to compose and focus.

Darn right! Getting up is very difficult. The only way up is to use a special cane.

[Dan Fromm]

Is it really that difficult to kneel or lay down?
All the technical add on stuff seems to be a lot more trouble than getting a Digital Camera with the screen that moves. ;-)

Willie, shooting flowers near ground level can be very difficult, especially with a Graphic. When the optical axis is a few inches above ground, the composing and focusing eyes have to be a few inches above ground. Not fun, often painful.

[Jim Andrada]

Just recovering from having my whole lower back rebuilt, and I'll second (or third) the comments about how hard it can be getting up and down. Good news is that it should be easier than before the surgery, at least after the 2 month "no bending" edict expires. Before the surgery it was easy enough getting down, but the "getting up" part was quite a challenge. We stayed with friends in Tokyo in April and they had just built a really nice new house. Bad news for yours truly was that it was built in traditional fashion - ie sleeping on futons on the floor. They're really comfortable, but getting up was a 20 minute ordeal. Actually, getting in and out of the guestroom wasn't so easy either - the doorway was maybe 5' 4" high - cool for my almost-five-feet-tall wife, not so cool for 6' 2" Sciatica-ridden me. Nice thing about the guestroom was that it also had an entrance directly off the entry hall. See below!



Maybe the opening was 28" high - you're supposed to sort of kneel down and scoot in on hands and knees. Nice!!! Not!!!!!

There are days I think I'm going to build a viewing back with a video cam and a remote display.

[Drew Bedo]

It might be easier to first adapt a a grafloc back to your camera and then adapt a right andlw finder from a Polaroid MP-4 to the Grafloc back. The Polaroid to Grafloc conversion is pretty easy to do. Removing little screws and swapping clips from the Polaroid GG to the Grafloc GG. It clips onto the existing Grafloc GG the same way the viewing hood clips on.

I have done thisconversion twice. The result is fully effective, but a bit heavy and not salon elegant.

RE: Kneeling/bending. I often bring the geasr into the field on luggage wheels or a golf bag pull cart. Along for the ride is a cvamp stool. Its squatting height. With this I use the camera on a short tripod extended one or two sections and move from the camwera bag to the camera without shifting position much.