Director's Viewfinder?

[jamesw]

You obviously haven't joined us on a UKLFPG outing then

Ah, so true! This is mainly because I'm only just buying my first LF gear, although maybe I should join when I'm finally using it - then I won't look so out of place with a big light box on my back and a bit of cardboard dangling from my neck!

It's interesting; even thinking about the process I'm going to have to go through in taking a decent 4x5 is making me consider the craft more deeply. I think with 35mm, although I try to be as careful as I can, it's so relatively easy to set up the camera, meter, play with the composition, DOF, etc., that one probably doesn't take quite as much care as if setting up a 4x5 and paying about £5. I'm hoping this will be a good thing for me as a photographer, particularly for landscape and fine art work - although I'm expecting to take a while to get any good at it.

In this case, the thought was that I should have a better way of previsualizing what I want to shoot and the lens to be used before I unpack and setup a field camera; hence the question about viewfinders.

I must say I have been treated very kindly and everyone has been very helpful and informative on this forum while I've been asking questions about what gear I will need to buy and how to use it, so thank you everyone! This thread has been no exception; what a great amount of information and so many different practical solutions. I think I'll try a hybrid of some of the cardboard cutout viewers... I'm even going to try one tomorrow for my 35mm gear until my LF gear is ready to go...

[Wally]

I bought a chinese made zoom finder from ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Linhof-Technika-...3286.m20.l1116

It has a bit distorsion at wide angle but it works.

That one was $290. There's another seller from China with the same zoom viewers for $89., and fixed viewfinders for $69.

See: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330249902225

[evan clarke]

I have the newest model viewfinder for the Technika and I love it. It's always in my pocket. My workflow is to walk around with just the viewfinder, consider my subject and then walk back to get my camera. During the walk I can think about the composition and exposure..Evan Clarke

[Jim Becia]

I use to cut my viewer from a small 3 inch disc (same size as the Quick Disk) and used it for years. It did double duty as a viewer and for bellows compensation with closeup work. However, I found it to be on marginally helpful when changing to other formats - 5X7 or 4x10. I located this "picture viewer" from Dick Blick. http://www.dickblick.com/zz049/95/

I've made markings on it to use with other formats and I also marked it with a circle notating the size of the quick disc so it works for that also. Water can't hurt it and the price is right. Jim