I received the Hoodman on Saturday. It's well built and not too heavy to be of concern as weight on the LCD hinge. I'd say that the risk of damage from banging the LCD with your hand is worse than your head applying pressure to hinge via the Hoodman. The Hoodman has a stable diopter focus wheel, and overall, the focus is better than the Hood-Pro Sock Loupe, the latter of which flops around and requires frequent adjustment. The Hoodman extender has some rubber feet that will give way if too much face pressure is applied.

I haven't tried the Hoodman outside. The Hood Pro is a little blacker, but the light leakage due to the incomplete sock or buckling cardboard sides kills the improvement in contrast. The Hood Pro's felt always shed, so the LCD and eye pieces required frequent dust removal.

I just received my Hoodman EX1 kit this evening - earlier than expected after Hoodman had notified me that it was backordered. Awesome!

I threw it on and filmed the prerequisite "kid playing" shots before he went to bed, and overall it looks like it's going to be an impressive addition for critical focus via the built-in LCD. The eye cup is not quite as comfy as my XL2 used to be, but it is big enough to not feel too "tight" on my eye and keeps light leakage out (supreme test to be done outdoors at some point soon - will report back).

The LCD looks big and bold through the Loupe - a REALLY nice surprise. The data on the screen is clear and easy to read. I noticed that I wasn't able to keep the entire screen in focus at all times without lifting my eye from the cup a bit and moving it around to "catch" one corner of the screen or another. However, probably a full 85%+ of the screen was in focus at all times.

I didn't have to struggle to get the Loupe onto the camera - the camera strap was firm but not *tight*, so you really just have to flatten the LCD screen (parallel to the ground) and lay the loupe on top while you strap it on from below - no stretching, pulling, or other wrestling required. Quite nice.

The included case is nice but it won't fit anything but the actual Loupe itself - unless I missed something by not fiddling with it more, I think the riser would have to come off, and perhaps the eye cup as well. The riser shouldn't be a big deal but I wouldn't want to take the eye cup off very often.

More impressions later, but so far, I'm happy with the purchase - I was even able to take what I'd *almost* consider a shoulder-mount shot, with the camera held in a position like my XL2 used to be, just without the nice support I'd have from having the camera on my actual shoulder. Perhaps the Spider II is the answer to that... :)

My 1/2d worth: Please don't flame me, but I don't like the Hoodman EX1 Hoodloupe OR the Hood-Pro Sock-Loupe!

I bought the Hood-Pro first and liked the large, sharp, well-shielded image but thought that the floppy sock thing was just silly, so I removed the lens and mounted it in a plastic flap fitted to the hood so that it would hinge out of the way when I wanted a distant direct view of the LCD. (Similar action to Betacam eyepieces). The soft feel of the sock was pleasant, but I didn’t need that as I fit an eyepiece Chamois over rubber eyecups anyway.

I agree with other people's comments about the flimsy build and poor appearance of the Hood-Pro and my modifications make it look even less 'professional', but the view of the LCD is superb as the lens is very good indeed. The experience is more like looking at a medium-sized monitor at a comfortable distance, rather than squinting into a small viewfinder.

(As I never used the EX1 rear viewfinder and it got in the way, I removed as much as possible of it and covered the 'stump' with PVC tape.)

I was looking forward to the Hoodman EX1 kit as I hoped it would be better built, look more 'pro', and be shorter, moving the camera CofG back towards the body.

When the kit arrived, I was impressed by the neat appearance and ruggedness of the build (although it is twice the weight of the Hood-Pro), liked the dioptre adjustment and the short barrel length; but I was shocked how poor the lens is compared with the Hood-Pro! The LCD image is significantly smaller allowing less detail to be seen, and most annoyingly, the eye has to be in the exact centre of the lens otherwise the whole image is very distorted. With the Hood-Pro, you can move your eye all around the eyepiece aperture and still get a sharp image. With the Hoodman, as others have reported, even when the centre is in focus, the corners of the LCD look soft and warped. Also the insides of the Hoodman do reflect more light than the Hood-Pro, making the image less easy to assess.

I now have two viewfinder attachments I don't like, but I'll probably go back to using my modified Hood-Pro as the image is so large and sharp.

What I would like is the build quality, adjustability and short length of the Hoodman, with the excellent lens quality of the Hood-Pro, PLUS the added ability to flip the lens out of the way when the camera has to be held away from the eye. I think it would be great l if Hoodman and Hood-Pro could get together on this !!

You WILL burn your LCD screen when using any Magnifier when outside in sunny conditions. I did 2 times I must confess. It only takes one second for this to happen and the results of this are pictured here: How to Replace Your EX1?s LCD (http://web.mac.com/stevecahill/Steve_Cahills_Blog/Blog/Entries/2008/7/9_When_Bad_Pixels_Go_Wrong.html)

as well as a little video on how to replace your LCD screen, a $500.00 mistake!
Replace at your own risk.

Peter,
Can you post some pics of your modification and instructions. It sounds like a good idea.

I did warn that it isn't a good-looking mod...

Components: Hood-Pro hood, Hood-Pro eyepiece, ~72x64mm rectangle of black plastic cut from an old betacam cassette box, 2 small tie-raps, sticky Velcro, double-sided Velcro, epoxy adhesive, chamois eye cup cover.

Cut ~42mm hole in centre of plastic rectangle for rubber lens tube.
Glue lens tube in hole with epoxy adhesive.
Drill 2 holes in Hood-Pro and plastic rectangle to attach tie-wrap hinges.
Attach sticky Velcro to rectangle & hood to allow double-sided Velcro to hold flap shut.

Refinements: 1/ Soft Velcro patch on corner nearest nose. 2/ Extra 16mm plastic strip glued to flap to make tighter fit inside hood when flap closed. 3/ A bead of soft plastic around the wide end of the hood to make it more lightproof and help keep it in place against the LCD. 4/ Velcro loop patch stuck to opposite side of hood to allow its elastic strap to be kept out of the way for occasional use of hood as a traditional hand-held loupe.

My lack of mechanical skills prevented me making anything better looking, but I'm now thinking about trying to fit the excellent Hood-Pro lens to the well-made Hoodman hood by adding a longer tube...

I completely take Steve Cahill's point about screen burn, but since reading about that hazard in a thread explaining Sock-Loupe floppyness a while ago, I have been prepared to take the risk and just try to remember to angle the viewfinder down when not in use. Camera operators were advised do that even in the days of monochrome CRT viewfinders.

When I saw the Hoodman prototype at NAB this year, I commented that I wished they would make a cover to replace the rear viewer. I think it looks a little silly with 2 view finders on the camera. Now that I have my Hoodman viewer, I'm sitting here watching the Tampa Bay Bucs losing to Washington, and an idea pops into my brain. I take one of the plastic cases that came with one of my SDHC cards, split it at it's hinge, and try it on my EX-1. With very little trimming... it works! It slides into the eyepiece mounting tracks very snugly, so I'm not worried about it coming out on its own. I covered it with a piece of black gaffer's tape to block light from hitting the little lcd inside. I'm happy with it. Since the Hoodman viewer won't fit in its case anymore, I put the Ex-1's rear eyepiece in it for protection.

I wasn't going to post this because I presumed that the Hoodman loupe was meeting everyone's needs, but maybe there is still some interest in DIY versions. For some time I've been using the hood shown in the attached and find it very satisfactory. It has milled channels to slide onto the LCD and built-in auto-shutter to close out the sun when not in use. The eyepiece can be flipped up for viewing the LCD directly and the hood folds up for storage. All of those aspects are easily constructed. The tricky bit is that I added a circular rail to relieve any added pressure on the LCD, and that might be a deterrent for DIY. If anyone wants more detail, email me.