Hoodloupe Mag 3.0

[Peter Jordan]

I echo Jim and Evan's comments. I've been using the hoodloupe on the lcd shade for over a year and it's super solid and fast to take on and off. Mine is neatly gaffer taped and has remained solid after a year of heavy use. I see no need to glue it.

But I'm not super impressed with the hoodmag. The diopter doesn't quite work anymore for my eyes. And the increase in size is not so huge.

Anyway, all things considered, the hoodman stuff is great.

[Jimmy Toha]

Originally Posted by Jim Giberti

Check out what I posted about it earlier. We've had a Hoodloupe mounted to the sunshade and it is 100% secure and rugged and stable. It goes on and of the camera several times a shoot and gets hauled all over some rugged outdoor shoots.

I can't imagine a better, easier way to mount a VF than this. As I've posted before, it took minutes to execute, it looks like it was done by Canon and it's light and immediately swappable. What more could you want?

Oh, yeah...it's really cheap too.

Hi Jim,

Evan mentioned that the sunshade is only available for 5D2. Unless a similar one is available for 7D (which is the DSLR I own), I might have to either wait till they release one and try your method or go for another alternative, depending on how long I can wait.

I understand your assumption though, since this thread belongs to 5D2 forum. But totally agree that it's a way cheaper solution :)

[Bruce Foreman]

I ordered the new HoodMag 3.0 3X eyepiece for the HoodmanUSA Hoodloupe 3.0 from B&H Sunday night (May 9th). UPS delivered it today (12th).

It's even better than I'd hoped. Had this been available mid last year I could have saved myself the $240 or so spent on the CAVISION setup I ordered from CAVISION in Canada (not to intimate that wasn't worth it, I will still get a lot of use out of it, an excellent product!).

The problem with the original Hoodloupe 3.0 was twofold: No magnification (at 1:1 the image appeared even smaller than direct view), and if you didn't have your eye quite centered you got distortion (this didn't bother me too much, I adapt, but it drove some others NUTS).

The HoodMag 3.0 solves both problems for me, providing 3X magnification and curing the eye centration issue. The view is NICE!

You have to already have the Hoodloupe ($79.99) or order it separately. The HoodMag 3.0 3X eyepiece is $39.99. To install you pull up on the original rubber eyeshield and pull it off (gently), all of the original optics remain in place on the loupe. Next stretch the bottom of the new assembly enough to pull it on and you're DONE!

Now hold it on the LCD of ANY DLSR and turn the eyepiece tube to focus, rotate the eyeshield to fit your face and it's ready for use (eyeglass wearers may prefer to fold the eyeshield down (I do) as once it gets skin oil or grease on it that will get on eyeglass lenses if left unfolded.

The "view" is great.

All that remains is to employ one of the mounting methods you'll find in these forums. My preference is one 12" rubber band or two 7" as this is easiest to mount and remove, although most of the time I will continue to use the lanyard to hang it around my neck and hold it in place on the LCD as necessary to focus, compose, and review video, or to simply review stills.

For me, well worth the $39.99

[Leonard Levy]

Ditto on the Hoodmag 3.0. Huge improvement for me and no complaints about it at all except that I still have not decided on a good way to attach to my T2i.I'm using the cine straps so far but its wanky.

[Cody Dulock]

From my personal experience, I think the hoodmag 3.0 is just OK. The good things are it has adjustable diopter control, it's magnified, and it's really lightweight. The main issue I have is the small optics used. The problem is the whole perimeter of the optics makes the perimeter of my LCD distorted and you can't tell what's in focus. If you stand on one leg, hop in a circle, spit on the ground, then look through the hoodmag at a certain eye level and 23.987 degrees to the top of it, you can see the LCD pretty good. I tried using mine for a few shoots, but this was waaaay to cumbersome and I had better results just using the LCD screen.

Am I the only one having this problem with the small optics? Or do I just have abnormally large eyes :)

[Jim Giberti]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

My preference is one 12" rubber band or two 7" as this is easiest to mount and remove,

Glad you're liking it Bruce. But for the record, using the rubber band method is definitely not the fastest or easiest way to take it on and off. The sunshade setup slides on and off instantly and fits like a glove.

And Cody, for me at least, the Mag fixed the perimeter blurriness issue.

[Bruce Foreman]

I don't have a 5D MkII, I'm using a 7D and I don't believe there is a sunshade that hooks on the eyepiece.

I mainly use a CAVISION LCD viewfinder and mounting plate assembly with "swing away" adapter with the 7D. The CAVISION has a 6X eyepiece.

I ordered the Mag 3.0 because I already had the Hoodloupe 3.0 and usually carry it when I'm shooting stills or more "spur of the moment" video.

[Sam Kanter]

Just got this, and it works quite well!

Only caveat is that flip-up feature requires two-hands to enable the spring switch release. It would be better if there were a one-hand release solution so that one could flip up and down while shooting.

Otherwise Hoodcrane is well designed and functions quite well. I use with mag 3.0 eyepiece. The whole thing is the "Cinema Kit" for around $200 - far better value and function, IMO, than Zacuto.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Here are some images of my Hasselblad finder on the 5D Mark 2 shown in an earlier thread (post No.12):

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...-took-lcd.html

[Jeff Murray]

I went down the Hoodloupe 3 route risking the edge blurriness and put the Mag on.

I am very happy with this solution as I have no edge blurriness. To mount the Hoodloupe, I found this article and purchased the Redrock mount.

UPDATED: Redrock Micro microFinder Loupe and Hoodloupe Review Small Town Photojournalism

It works really well. It's a little soft and so can bend at times. However as it allows the mount and dismount of the Hoodloupe, I really like it. It is held on with my Manfrotto quick release plate basically clasping the metal bracket against the camera base plate. It pretty much lives on my camera now, other than when I want to use Auto Focus and get some stills.

In the UK, at least I purchased the Redrock mount from Production Gear.

Regards

Jeff

[Cody Dulock]

The hoodloupe still sucks for me... I tried out the z-finder on someone elses camera and the optics are much larger! The large optics make a lot of sense... coming from using 35mm adapters, the optics for the achromat had to be large enough because they had a "Sweet" spot in the middle of the achromat that wasn't distorted. The sweet spot on the hoodmag is really small compared to the actual diameter of the glass. Zacuto's z-finder costs more, but it's using the right size optics.

I too am using the redrock loupe holder and it works great with my rig, but the hoodman optics could be vastly improved.