Poor Man's Linhof Viewfinder?

[Mike K]

Maybe in another life I'll be able to plunk down $1800 for a Linhoff. For this life, any recommendations for something remotely similar that will help preview a scene?

 

[Helen B]

I gave my art director an Alan Gordon Director's Viewfinder to help her visualise shots. It doesn't adjust to 4x5 aspect ratio, however, but you could make a mask. There are other, cheaper, directors viewfinders. Cheap versions of the Linhof do appear on eBay. You can also use a P&S camera. When I started in 4x5 I used simple wire frame action finders, one for each lens I owned. Here's the 89 mm version on the MPP S-92 I've had since '73:

Best,
Helen

 

[Mike K]

I should have mentioned that 4X5 isn't necessary as I use a cropped sensor DSLR. Anything remotely in the the size/ratio range, 4/3, would be fine.

 

[ann]

Take a piece of mat board and cut out the aspect range you want, carry it around and hold it out in front of you to help block out "stuff" other than what you want in the camera.

We did this all the time when learning to use a view camera. You can take your lens and figure out the focal lengths vs how far way or how near to hold the mat frame.

The easiest was to take a slide mount and use that as well.

 

[Big Mike]

I use a cropped sensor DSLR.

I'm scratching my head, trying to figure out why anyone would need something like this....when they are using a digital camera. :scratch:

 

[ann]

Perhaps they want to view the scene before lifting the camera :er: