One of the dirty little secrets of photography is that it isn’t the camera that gets your wallet – it’s the accessories that are so adept at performing cashectomies.
Six months ago I wrote a short article on the Canon 5D Mark 2 and why I decided to purchase one. Since then it has steadily become my primary camera for all but high-speed action shots (for that my Canon 1D Mark 2 stays at the top of the roost in my shop). I now regularly switch the plate on my Libec H38 video head from the XH-A1 to a Really Right Stuff quick release clamp (it still is a hack and I’m hoping someone will come up with something better — I wrote to RRS but, so far, no response.)
When Philip Bloom wrote about the Zacuto viewfinder that worked with the 5D I immediately had accessory lust. Unfortunately the Zacuto viewfinders sold out very quickly and I figured I’d have to wait a few months for its replacement (although the sticker shock of the viewfinder meant that I had some time to save up my pennies…)
I then stumbled on the Hoodman HoodLoupe 3.0 and, given the unknowns about the Zacuto’s V2 viewfinder delivery time and price, that the HoodLoupe would be worth the price and I could set myself up for a little New Year’s gift for myself a few months down the road.
While the order was being shipped, Philip Bloom got a hold of a Hoodman HoodLoupe and wrote a great review of it as a viewfinder for the 5DMk2 and I highly advise reading his article if you are interested in purchasing it.
I had some reservations about the Hoodman Loupe, particularly because I wear eyeglasses, but overall the reviews of it that I did find were generally positive and Philip’s review reinforced my expectations and reservations.
The first thing to note is that the HoodLoupe retails for about $80. But that just gives you a loupe that is designed to be used to inspect still images or the Live Preview screen whilst on a tripod. I have to say that it is worth the money alone for that feature and having used it now for a few days under sunny conditions, if I ever replace it with the Zacuto finder or equivalent, it’ll still be in my bag for this purpose. It works great.
But to use it as a video viewfinder you have to make it “stick” to your camera. Hoodman kindly provides a “Cinema Mount Strap” for $25. I looked at this add-on and said to myself “$25 is a lot to pay for a piece of elastic cord”. I checked with my wife, who happens to be a seamstress, and she was pretty sure she had some cord down in her shop. $80 it was – the cinema mount would be a DIY project.
I took a length of elastic cord, used a twist tie to create an attachment loop opposite the one Hoodman so kindly provided for its strap, and added a little clamping gizmo to cinch it up. Now the topologists out there will correctly note that this makes it pretty much impossible to detach without rethreading the clamping gizmo because the elastic goes over the front of the camera and you can’t get past the camera straps. 2 points for thinking ahead. Fortunately my accessory lust paid benefits this time — my camera strap is an Op/Tech which just so happens to have clips on it to allow me to remove it. I love it when a plan comes together.
So with just a bit of hackery I have a workable viewfinder for the 5D that allows me to comfortably shoot video both on a tripod and handheld.
From a comfort point of view it is acceptable — no worse than the regular eyepiece. If I had to spend hours every day shooting through it I can see where it would wear out its welcome.
The viewscreen is clear and bright. Because I wear eyeglasses I’m sure I’m stretching the “eye relief” of the optics and there is some distortion around the very edges – but that area normally never contains image. As I have particularly bad eyesight, I’m pretty much used to these types of tradeoffs.
I’ve found that once I start working with it, Live View becomes much more accessible even when doing stills. I was lining up some macro shots and use the 5x magnification to pinpoint the focus. This is SO much better with the HoodLoupe than without — particularly in daylight. Switching modes and settings while staying on the viewfinder became very natural and easy.
I’ve done a little bit of handheld video shooting (of the grandson of course) and I’m pretty happy with the results. The combination of the HoodLoupe on the back and a 50mm f/1.4 on the front is a powerful video image-making tool. I even shot some handheld 500mm f/4 footage (with image stabilization on) and I’m excited about trying some video of the Osprey from the kayak (it’ll never be feature-worthy, but it might be good enough as a video clip or two in a presentation).
The camera itself continues to fit perfectly into a number of workflows. I used it for the first time as my B-roll camera for a business profile video I shot at a Boston hotel. The ability to mount my 16-35mm lens on it and get beautiful wide-angle shots of the guest suites and lobby made for a far better end product.
Now armed with a workable viewfinder I’ll likely be expanding my use of the camera…. which will lead me to the next accessory: a dedicated video head clamp that can rotate 90 degrees to accommodate the camera and/or telephoto lenses! Are you listening Really Right Stuff?
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by Dave
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