Bespectacled users of the Horseman bino viewer?

[Leigh Perry]

I am considering the Horseman
reflex binocular viewer (thanks to Paul S for the photo).
[IMG][/IMG]

Has anyone attempted to use this viewer while wearing glasses? Please describe the experience.

Thanks.

[Paul Schilliger]

Leigh, I think Scott Jones uses it with glasses, you might contact him through his website. (you are welcome for the pic, I should perhaps mention that the bino does not attach to a Technika as it is here. It required some machining. Perfect fit to Horseman and Toyo. Ebony requires some adaptation made at the factory)

http://home.comcast.net/~contactscott/biography.html

[Jon_2416]

No longer does it require machining of any sort, you just have to buy an adapter plate for your Linhof:

http://www.phootos.com/TCviewers.htm

[scott jones]

Hi there!





Yes, I use this viewer on my Toyo VX125 at all times. I love it and I always use my glasses when I use the viewer. The face plate/baffle with the magnifier is quite wide and accomodates my glasses easily. I wear bifocals and have no problem with this aspect either. The 2.5x magnification of the viewer is wonderful and I rarely now ever use my loupe.





All this being said, my face is very narrow and my glasses are the modern/trendy design which means small and narrow. If you have a very wide face and really large glasses, you might not get the same result. That is you might not fit inside.





I just measured the face plate for you and it is 6-1/8" wide by 2-1/8" tall (inside dimensions), so you can look at your facial dimensions and glasses dimensions and see if there would be any problem with fit. I don't think you will have any problem with the viewing itself if your face/glasses fit in the "hole"





Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions





ScottJonesPhoto.com

[heidis]

I'll concur with Scott here. I normally wear contacts so it's not an issue, but I've occasionally had glasses on while using the viewer and it's not a problem. As Scott says, a wide face with large glasses might prove otherwise

The viewer, BTW, is wonderful...mine goes everywhere with me. I can't imagine going back to the dreaded darkcloth. I use mine with an Ebony SV45U2...which, apparently unlike a Linhof, DOES require the viewer's mounting plate to be modified by Ebony to fit properly.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

I have an Arca Swiss 6x9 mirror bino viewer which seems very similar in shape and optical design to the Horseman viewer shown above, except that it is probably smaller than a 4"x5" model. I have the same kind of rubber eye-cups and I have absolutely no problem using it with my ophtalmic glasses. I agree with Danny B. that a bino viewer is much better than a dark cloth, for many reasons, one of the interesting features of the device --probably offered on the Horseman as well-- is the ability to tilt the rear mirror to optimize the brightness of the image in certain zones you find important, this is achieved by shifting the maximum brightness zone vertically across the format until you fell comfortable. The only additional comment I would make : I find my 6x9 Arca Swiss viewer almost as big as the camera itself ;-) so I do not take it for backpacking. The device does not collapse very well, a Technika® will pack in less space when folded ;-)

[Larry Burk]

I use the viewer on my Ebony SV45U while wearing progressive bifocals and it works extremely well with 150mm thru 700mm lenses. It allows me to compose right side up and rough focus much faster than without it. However my corrected vision still requires I fine focus with a 6-7x loupe(a toyo 3.6 wont do) for best results. Even with this extra procedure I still would rather use the viewer. When using my 80XL or to a somewhat lesser extent my 110XL I use the viewer as above but the result is not as good, I need to do more with the loupe to finish off. This is because one of my eyes is not helped much by correction or magnification and looking into the viewer using wide angle lenses causes the left half of the image to be much darker. So if you see poorly or not at all out of one eye and use wide angle lenses (dont we all) you should try one on a camera to see if you like it.

[Leigh Perry]

Thanks to all, and to Scott for the measurement. My face shape is more long
than wide.
My glasses are 5.5 inches wide so it looks like everything will be fine. Perhaps glasses will compromise
light-tightness, but it seems promising.

It's great that that the viewer is so well regarded. Ebony are able to alter the SW45 so that the swing-out option is available too.

Regarding Larry's point, I do use wide angles -- I only have 58mm - 150mm lenses, plus 38XL for use with 120 backs. But as ever here
in Sydney, there is no option (that I'm aware of) of trying one on a camera.

[Leigh Perry]

Just a follow-up. I bought the viewer and had Ebony adapt it and the SW45. They no longer do the swing-out compatible adaptation though.

I used it for the first time on the weekend. It was a joy. The 2x magnification was fine for focusing, even with a 58mm because of the tilting mirror. Using graflock rollfilm was less convenient than with the darkcloth because of the need to put the viewer down somewhere. I'll probably need a tripod apron described by Kerry Thalmann in the Convenience in the Field thread.

Thanks to all contributors for the info and encouragement.