Dark viewfinder

Rolfe Klement · December 28, 2004

I am into the handheld, moving around kind of shots where I am close in with a camera on a 25 or 23mm lens - and I have been having issues being able to pull focus from the viewfinder - cause it is so dark - with an 85 and an nd9 (cause I also like to shoot T2 on 5218 in daylight)

It is easy to set up the shot using tape but as soon as I move and the talent it gets dodgy. I pull my own focus - I spend lots of my time following my dog around the house with the camera (to get focus practice) and I have learnt some things - like move the camera instead of the focus -

pull focus on the ear cause it always looks better than the nose (if you have issues hitting the eye) -

I always tend to be to close rather than too far

Is it just my camera - cause when people say a LT has a bright viewfinder does it have some funky way of by-passing the filters in the matt box

I dont want to shoot a higher frame rate or cruch the shutter down - I could move to a slower stock but I always prefer to have stock too fast and use filters than be screwed

any suggestions?

thanks

Rolfe Klement

www.creativesunshine.com

Kevin Zanit · December 28, 2004

Well the problem is not really the viewfinder; it is all the filters/ the stop you are shooting at.

The only suggestion I could make (besides what you know - loose the filters) would be, if your IIC has a video tap, get an onboard monitor, and operate off of that. The tap will add gain, and you will be able to see an image.

Just be sure to block off the viewfinder if you do this, as light will fog the center of the film through an exposed eyepiece.

Kevin Zanit