Vari-Format Viewing Frame

[Steve Gledhill]

I’ve seen occasional references to view cards or viewing frames. Here’s my vari-format viewer which I couldn’t survive without. Made from nothing more than 1 inch or 25mm strip pine, wood glue for the 4 corners and duct tape for the hinges. My prototype, which I lost in Yellowstone 3 years ago, was made from foam core. I moved up market with this one!

Next post will have a couple of construction shots.

[Steve Gledhill]

And the construction shots ...

[Ash]

That's cool.

I don't use a viewing frame, not sure why I don't, and not sure why I'd need one

Yours looks great though!

[C. D. Keth]

No string attached to show your focal lengths?

[jeroldharter]

I made a similar thing for 4x5 out of mat board with a string according to Alan Ross's directions. I use it most of the time and it works very well for determining focal length without second guessing. The nice thing about matboard is that it is flexible and conforms to my pack well.

[Steve Gledhill]

No string attached to show your focal lengths?

For frame to nose I use:

full hand span for 210mm lens
4 knuckles for 135mm lens
2 knuckles for 90mm lens

So, no string. That would be over-engineered!

[C. D. Keth]

For frame to nose I use:

full hand span for 210mm lens
4 knuckles for 135mm lens
2 knuckles for 90mm lens

So, no string. That would be over-engineered!

Touché, Sir. Very nicely thought out.

[Clueless Winddancing]

Rube Goldberg had a football helmet with an upside down "shoe-sizer" attatched to the TDC. Instead of "knuckles" he went by shoe size to determine focal length. : ))

[Bill_1856]

I generally just "eyeball" the scene/focal length.
But I'd like to point out the optical viewfinder used on Speed/Crown Graphics, often sold for $10-25 on ebay. There are various drop-in masks from its unmasked 135mm to 15" Tele-Raptar FOV, as well as masks for 6x6 and 6x7 roll film.

[jesskramer]

Steve,

What are the dimensions of the opening before you flip any cropping pieces in place ?

Any additional construction tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jesse