How much does the Visual Products Video Tap reduce the brightness of an Aaton viewfinder?

[Zachary Vex]

This one here:

 

http://visualproducts.com/storeProductDeta...=741&Cat=11

 

Will it significantly reduce the brightness at the eyepiece?

 

And of course, naturally I wonder whether the Visual Products video tap is brighter/clearer/better than the AZ Spectrum unit. And additionally, I'm baffled as to how the battery fits when using the very high-brightness, high-resolution camera that AZ Spectrum has installed outside of the camera!

 

http://members.aol.com/azspectrum/ltrvid_c.html

 

Plus, since the VP video tap is only available as b/w, is there a very strong reason why I'd want a color unit instead?

[Chance Shirley]

I just had the VP tap installed in my Aaton LTR 54. I haven't had the opportunity to do any extensive testing, but the viewfinder didn't seem much darker to me. And the signal through the tap is very bright and sharp. On top of all that, the installation is very clean -- it's almost all internal, so the only obvious addition to the camera is the BNC connector, which I like better than having the handgrip replaced or something.

 

Again, these are my very first impressions. I'll hopefully be putting the camera through the paces for a feature in a couple of months, so I should have more info at that time.

 

I would also mention that the turnaround time for the install, at least on mine, was very long. At least a couple of months. If you go with the VP tap, be sure to plan accordingly.

[Robert Houllahan]

Will it significantly reduce the brightness at the eyepiece?

 

 

Plus, since the VP video tap is only available as b/w, is there a very strong reason why I'd want a color unit instead?

 

 

I believe that the beamsplitter in the LTR is a 80/20 split so you would lose 20% of the light going to the viewfinder, the LTR viewfinder is bright so I do not think that it would be too bad, plus you can turn a screw and remove the splitter from the light path restoring the full viewfinder brightness.

 

-rob-

[Nathan Milford]

Yeah, what Robert said was spot on.

 

I generally prefer a B&W tap. Keeps (most) people from making assumptions about how it'll look when processed and scanned.

[Chance Shirley]

... plus you can turn a screw and remove the splitter from the light path restoring the full viewfinder brightness.

 

Could someone point me in the direction of this particular screw?

[Robert Houllahan]

Could someone point me in the direction of this particular screw?

On my LTR54 it is on the right hand top side of the camera at around the same level as the silver run switch there is a cap you remove and then you use a allen wrench to retract the beam-splitter from the optical path.

 

-Rob-