Viewfinder magnification

Hi, I have a strange question, but here goes: I have a "homemade" camera housing. It basically keeps my camera dry and has quite a few dials to get a picture. I have a problem in that I cannot see properly through the viewfinder. The eyepiece is about 2 centimetres away from the edge of the housing. When I press my face up against the housing, I cannot see too well through the viewfinder.

I looked at viewfinder magnification on the net, but I don't think this will suffice. I am thinking about putting some form of magnificstion in between the edge of the housing and the viewfinder ????

I have tried my canon with live view, but have been advised to steer away from that as focusing is limited, and you can't press the trigger halfway to auto focus.

I know you guys are going to say "get a proper housing " - but money talks and I have what I have.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I can do to overcome this ? I would really appreciate some help here.

Thanks

Hi, I have a strange question, but here goes: I have a "homemade" camera housing. It basically keeps my camera dry and has quite a few dials to get a picture. I have a problem in that I cannot see properly through the viewfinder. The eyepiece is about 2 centimetres away from the edge of the housing. When I press my face up against the housing, I cannot see too well through the viewfinder.

I looked at viewfinder magnification on the net, but I don't think this will suffice. I am thinking about putting some form of magnificstion in between the edge of the housing and the viewfinder ????

I have tried my canon with live view, but have been advised to steer away from that as focusing is limited, and you can't press the trigger halfway to auto focus.

I know you guys are going to say "get a proper housing " - but money talks and I have what I have.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I can do to overcome this ? I would really appreciate some help here.

Thanks

It really does boil down to "you get what you pay for". If you compromise on equipment, you will be dealing with shortcomings. How many times have we heard someone ask for this kind of advice: "I only want to spend $400 but I want a camera that does everything". The only cheap solution I can see with your dilemma is to shoot the cheapest wide angle lens you can find. Wides tend to be forgiving as far as framing, you can kind of estimate where you are pointing.

Because of the air/housing/water interface and the power of the human eye (usually getting a bit worse by the age at which most people start dabbbling in the arcana of underwater photography) most housings have a lens that brings the viewfinder into focus. If you move back from the housing, using a live-view system, this isn't neccessary. The power of the lens is usually about +2D, I would guess, but I can't find a source for that.

Many photographers use more complicated viewfinder optics: they can make a real difference to getting the best shot.

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/standard-ve...s-size-matters/

Tim

You could mount one of these fancy viewfinders on your housing, with little difficulty. But the big ones go for near $1000!!!

You could also use one of the internal viewfinder adapters, that acts as a wide angle lens on the viewfinder, and makes it easier to use underwater. These are pretty cheap, maybe $120. And the typically screw into the view finder on the camera. They need some space too, between the camera and the wall. Maybe more than 2cm.

Many of us shot with these types of view finders all through the 90s.

The other thing to do is get a camera with a decent AF during live view, which pretty much means sony or panasonic.

I just made an eyepeice extender for my ikelite housing out of an old P&S telephoto lens. I inverted the telephoto lens and mounted it to the outside of the housing. I envisage you could use something similar to embed in your housing to focus on the eyepiece of your slr. Go to a second hand shop etc and try to find old eyepieces for telescopes etc..that might work.

I have an old version of the ikelite super eye for an old housing, which in its old version is something you screw into the eyepiece of the camera. I dont use it anymore. I can look it up tomorrow if you like and take some measurements / pictures to see if it is something you might want.

Hi, yes please - this would be fantastic. I have a Canon 450D and the distance from the eyepiece to the edge of the housing is about 15 mm. If you could do measurements and a photo - I would appreciate it.

My email is : claase at nexus dot co dot za

I have an old version of the ikelite super eye for an old housing, which in its old version is something you screw into the eyepiece of the camera. I dont use it anymore. I can look it up tomorrow if you like and take some measurements / pictures to see if it is something you might want.

Hi

Thanks very much for the guys who have added some invaluable info. There are a few things to try. Thanks again, I really appreciate positive input.

Lance

Hi Tim

Thanks for the info and yes unfortunately the age is a factor - lol. Oh well, I'm having fun and getting some pretty decents shots (at times)

Thanks

Because of the air/housing/water interface and the power of the human eye (usually getting a bit worse by the age at which most people start dabbbling in the arcana of underwater photography) most housings have a lens that brings the viewfinder into focus. If you move back from the housing, using a live-view system, this isn't neccessary. The power of the lens is usually about +2D, I would guess, but I can't find a source for that.

 

Many photographers use more complicated viewfinder optics: they can make a real difference to getting the best shot.

 

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/standard-ve...s-size-matters/

 

Tim

 

Hi

Thanks for this info, I'm gonna try that - will be fun scouting around.

Cheers

I just made an eyepeice extender for my ikelite housing out of an old P&S telephoto lens. I inverted the telephoto lens and mounted it to the outside of the housing. I envisage you could use something similar to embed in your housing to focus on the eyepiece of your slr. Go to a second hand shop etc and try to find old eyepieces for telescopes etc..that might work.