DIY waist level finder for technical field camera

[Dirk Rösler]

Hello, I have a new Wista field camera which I want to use for some handheld work.

To aid framing, I would like to have something to attach to the accessory shoe. I realised that I prefer pics shot from chest level, so instead of adapting something to look through, I thought an L-shaped, angled viewer would be great (plus lifting 3kg to the eye is a little unrealistic in the long run).

If it is L-shaped, I suppose it needs a mirror in it, which means the image will be upside down, but I can live with that (I hope). No parallax correction required, of course. The only thing I want is to be able to change the "mask" between horizontal and vertical orientation.

Has anyone ideas on how to build something like that, esp. how to calculate lengths and openings to get the right angle of view (one lens only, 120mm).

Dirk

[Ron Marshall]

You could use a periscope design, to re-erect the image.

[Dirk Rösler]

Thanks - could you elaborate please? What is a periscope design and how would it re-erect the image?

[Paul-Owen]

You might try using a Cambo T20 reflex viewer. This viewer allows viewing from above (via a magnifier eyepiece) and is very lightweight. It will probably need some minor adapting to fit your ground glass. Hope this helps.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Or you could just get a Graflex reflex camera and be done with it.

[Dirk Rösler]

Thanks. As I said, I want a viewfinder for framing, not view the ground glass through a reflex viewer.

[Ron Marshall]

Thanks - could you elaborate please? What is a periscope design and how would it re-erect the image?

A vertical tube with two mirrors at 45 degrees to the horizontal, one at the top, one at the bottom.

[Dirk Rösler]

A vertical tube with two mirrors at 45 degrees to the horizontal, one at the top, one at the bottom.

Thanks. But since I want an L-shaped device to look into from the top, it seems impossible to have two mirrors.

[Jim Jones]

The waist-level viewfinder from an old folding camera might be masked to cover the appropriate field and mounted on the Wista.