Here is my own mockup of a F3 with an improved viewfinder, it sure makes sense. This added to a nice shoulder pad with Sony camera plate mount would be even better.

Thierry.

Which also creates a nice possible accessory I haven't noticed yet (which maybe someone else has) which is a combination shoulder pad that has a standard Sony Plate mount for a Tripod plate, and has the option of adding rods out the front (and perhaps out the back as well?) -- of course with a little bit of slide room for the shoulder pad.
Guess I'll be looking for this at NAB

Here is my own mockup of a F3 with an improved viewfinder, it sure makes sense. This added to a nice shoulder pad with Sony camera plate mount would be even better.

Thierry.

Very nice.

That would work for me, as well. Perhaps that will be on the F4

Which also creates a nice possible accessory I haven't noticed yet (which maybe someone else has) which is a combination shoulder pad that has a standard Sony Plate mount for a Tripod plate, and has the option of adding rods out the front (and perhaps out the back as well?) -- of course with a little bit of slide room for the shoulder pad.
Guess I'll be looking for this at NAB

Bingo. That is exactly what I am thinking about and yes, rods in the back as well for adding larger battery and outboard recorder support.

T.

Nice mockup Thierry. Wouldn't that be nice. Have you found the missing connector on the body for the EVF?

Well, here's hoping that the F5 comes out... just as the EX1 had the EX3 on it's heels.

(Sony engineers really need to spend sometime on a working set).

Here is my own mockup of a F3 with an improved viewfinder, it sure makes sense. This added to a nice shoulder pad with Sony camera plate mount would be even better.

Thierry.

Nicely done ... one wonders why the sony designers didn't come up with this!

CVP in the UK was showing this mockup on an AF101 at IBC. I think its based on a design by the German firm Kinomatik that makes the Movietube systems. It has a black box that converts HDMI or SDI to a 20 pin Sony VF socket. More info here: KINOMATIK - technology for motion pictures (http://kinomatik.com/)

I have that VF and would love to see this system produced.

Thanks for the post John. Just saw on their website that they had a new one for the F3 called the CR, but no mention of North American distributers. Will have to check this out at NAB

Funny thing is, the pic from the IBC show clearly features a Movietube shoulder rig with a Sony HDVF, while the Kinomatik website shows only a rendering of the new CR product with a Cineroid VF. I contacted CVP (a Movietube distributor) and they didn't seem to have a clue.

Not sure where that leaves us, but perhaps NAB will clear things up a bit.

Looks like it is coming sooner that I thought it would. Cineroid's new EVF Pro Metal with various HDMI and HD-SDI I/Os looks very good:

DSLR News Shooter | Cineroid announce EVF Metal range with options for HD-SDI input and output (http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2011/04/06/cineroid-announce-evf-metal-range-with-options-for-hd-sdi-input-and-output/)

Thierry.

The current Cineroid is almost useless thanks to a very poor diopter. CA and uneven focus, it's more like a cheap plastic magnifying glass. Hopefully they've fixed that.

Any sense Thierry as to when the metal one with HD-SDI connectors will ship?

The current Cineroid is almost useless thanks to a very poor diopter. CA and uneven focus, it's more like a cheap plastic magnifying glass. Hopefully they've fixed that.

That's why I'd rather have a crisp, professional monochrome VF to use on the F3 over a crappy color one. Having used b/w viewfinders for 30 years, I wouldn't feel all that lost without color.

I haven't seen the Cineroid in person yet, but one definately hears mixed reviews. And what's up with the Zacuto...seems like they've borrowed a page from the RED playbook.

ProVideo Coalition.com: VIDEO: Camera Log by Adam Wilt | Founder | Pro Cameras, HDV Camera, HD Camera, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, RED, Video Camera Reviews (http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/video/nab_2011_video_-_sunday_night_at_sony/)

Last couple seconds of the video, they show off a VF tube for the LCD on the F3, not ideal, but better than nothing?

just anounced

Announcing the all new DP4 from SmallHD (http://www.smallhd.com/Products/DP4.html)

I didn't see this on the earlier link to their site.

LCDVFE by Kinotehnik (http://www.kinotehnik.com/lcdvfe/)

Tried the Zacuto EVF at NAB, and I liked the unit itself and especially the menu and function keys. However I have a consistent problem with the Zacuto loupes.

I just can't seem to get what feels like sharp focus- no matter how I adjust the eyepiece. I tried it with spacers that put the eyepiece further away and that may have helped a teeny but but not enough,

I've wondered if it has something to do with my astigmatism and the fact that I wear progressive glasses. .

Leonard,

The new product from SmallHD may offer a solution. Their eyepiece is threaded to accept custom diopter correction elements. I saw it at NAB and it looks nice.

I'm nearsighted and seriously astigmatic so its a problem I have all the time with eyepieces.

I don't think it has anything to do with diopter adjustment. My glasses put me at 20-20 and I am fine with a Hoodman, though with progressives I can't move my head around. it just never gets sharp with the Zacuto as I go right through the proper diopter setting.
I don't really get it though.
Chris , do you use your glasses when you shoot also. Have you had problems with the Zacuto as well?

I can't shoot through my glasses on a VF now that I'm in my 40's. Up until the last few years I could.

I also can't shoot without my glasses because my astigmatism is so severe that no diopter adjustment works.

I would have to get a set of reading glasses to use a VF.

I've come to rely on external monitors to shoot with now and that works great (as long as I can keep them at a reasonable distance).

One day I'll give in and get a second set of glasses. I'm not ready to admit defeat yet though.

I only mentioned the new SmallHD monitor since they told us at the demo you will be able to get custom diopters made for your prescription. If they can make one with a cylinder value of about 4 then I might have a VF that will work for me without glasses.

I have bad astigmatism also but don't get why you can't use glasses with an EVF. Can you do it with a traditional full size video cam? Your glasses should be correcting for far vision and the diopter on a viewfinder ( I think) is supposed to correct normal far vison so you can see something close. Should not need reading glasses for it - in fact that should get you into more trouble. I'm over 60 BTW so been dealing with the close vision loss for years.
In the old film days I had a set of small lenses with my glasses correction that I would tape into the eyepiece of an arri, panvison etc camera. Worked great though it would tend to fog which require inserting a little tube in the rubber eye cup so you could suck out the foggy air. Crazy but it worked. Suck don't Blow was the mantra.

But until this zacuto thing I've had no problem with glasses including progressives. Maybe I just expect too much from the zacuto.

Using my glasses causes a lot of color aberrations in viewfinders. Everything has yellow and purple color fringes.

It makes it difficult to judge focus and quickly leads to a very tired eye.

I don't seem to have the same trouble looking at monitors.

I and several others at the Sony booth repeatedly tried to get decent results with the Zacuto EVF on an F3 and eventually gave up. Whatever the reason, none of us felt that it was making focus any easier. The problem was not in the Zacuto loupe, because you could read the EVF's menu graphics clearly and if you put the loupe on the camera's LCD, the image was great. We tried adjusting the screen contrast and brightness and also tried with and without spacers, but it was still difficult to resolve focus. It was disappointing as I had a deposit on one.

Chris,
Wow, that's much more severe than anything I experience. Is your eyesight really bad. Mine is not horrible. I could fake driving if I lost my glasses tho I wouldn't read signs too well.

Chuck, Hmm the plot thickens - not just me - did you guys try any others at the show?

I gave the Zacuto a quick try at their booth. They had the 3x eyepiece on the ones I tried, and I thought that it was a little too blown up to be properly functional, though once I found an optimal spot I could get decent focus. It felt to me that their lower power magnifier could be a better option.

@Lenny
We tried the CIneroid and found it slightly easier to focus with, possibly due to the fact that the screen had a slightly lower contrast. Although the Zacuto clearly had a more robust shell and mount, the Cineroid appeared to be easier to focus with and we left it on the camera all week to suggest third party EVF options for the F3.

I tried the Cineroid very briefly as I was leaving and at first blush it seemed better to me also but I didn't check out the features - i.e peaking, zebras,function keys etc.
Others on this forum have complained about it though.
I loved the functions of the Zacuto.

I'm not pitching either one. In my opinion, neither was up to the task.

What's the negative on the Cineroid?

Simply put, I would pay more for better resolution screens. For $800-$1000, I was expecting results, at least as good as using a Hoodman on my EX1.

We are looking into selling this product after seeing it at NAB.

Thanks John, Andy,
Yet another reason to wait.

We are looking into selling this product after seeing it at NAB.

I never saw this at NAB Andy. What sort of dollars are you thinking of?

Simply put, I would pay more for better resolution screens. For $800-$1000, I was expecting results, at least as good as using a Hoodman on my EX1.

Same for the Zacuto. It was cool and adjustable, but I wasn't blown away. It still seemed very "pixelly" with a fly-wire netting effect.

It's not an EVF but the new Panasonic 9" BT-LH910 was excellent and left my Sony 940 for dust. It almost looked OLED.

It still seemed very "pixelly" with a fly-wire netting effect.

The fly-wire netting effect is the deal breaker on all of these EVFs in my books.

Anybody compare the Small 4" EVF to Cineroid & Zacuto.

Personally I think I found the cineroid easier to focus than the Zacuto but I didn't get a chancer t look at features. Sounds similar though. ( I was less excited about the zebra system one is for over exposed ( fine set at 100) but the other is for underexposed areas - (huh what good is that?) I want a 60 and a 100.
Maybe they could fix that in a firmware upgrade?

They all seem to be 800 x 480 or 400 so I would assume similar fly-wire netting - though would the Small appear sharper because it starts off bigger (4" compared to 3.2")

It seems to me that even my F3 flip out with a Hoodman feels less sharp on the F3 than on the Ex-1 . maybe that's just because I have lower DOF and need it more though.

How about a big old Loupe for the TVLogic 5.6. Does that make any sense? Probably unweildy.

I didn't see this on the earlier link to their site.

LCDVFE by Kinotehnik (http://www.kinotehnik.com/lcdvfe/)

Did anyone see this at NAB?

I could not find it in the limited time I had to search NAB, but I appreciate the link and have requested more info.

What's the negative on the Cineroid?

I've heard from different sources (reseller and rental entity) that they are having a high failure rate. Perhaps the announced metal version will be more robust. I tried it out for a recent shoot and it did reasonably well. Personally the idea of HDMI as a connector for a viewfinder is completely and utterly wrong--too fragile, too easy to bump or break or knock out (the latter happened during a fast handheld shot, no bueno). I don't love the Blackmagics but HD-SDI is the way to go...

Regarding the loupe for a 5.6: I have this now for the DP6 and was doing this a year ago with the Marshall 7" (anyone remember seeing my setup at the IDX booth)? Very simple to build, just extended the sides of a Hoodman with coroplast and velcro the face of the monitor. It's bulky (a LOT better with the 5.6) but gets the job done. I talked with the SmallHD guys about this at last year's show--not quite sure if I can take credit for giving them the idea, but it was obvious where this was all heading, to me at least.

duplicate post

Charles,
Can you post a pic of that? What's Coroploast?

Are you saying you just built a hood that culminated in a hoodman loupe and velcro'd it on ?
Is the size a big problem?

Interested in making another one? I'll buy it from you.

Maybe its a good product for Hoodman to make.