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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Directors Viewfinder for Fullframe?

I Bloom

I Bloom

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So I really appreciate using a directors viewfinder with a ground glass so I can put a lense right on it. But given that these days I find myself shooting on all kinds of formats from Red-Super35mm, 5D Full Frame PL Mount, SevenD with PL mount, 2 perf 35mm.... the list goes on, soon we'll have Alexa 3K, Epic 5K, Epic FF etc. Suddenly you find yourself guessing about the actual field of view because your viewfinder doesn't have the appropriate framing.

I'm wondering if a viewfinder exists that can accommodate a lot of different formats up to full frame and would allow us to see how the various lenses are actually projecting relative to sensor size.

Thanks,
IBloom
 
I think your best bet would be to use a 5D and shoot a custom made chart that has all the sensor sizes you use on it. I think Brook has a post that shows all the sizes and has their actual measurements in thousandths of an inch or hundreds of an millimeter. The ASC manual has SMPTE sizes also. Scale this up ten fold or more and make a chart with dark sharpie.

Then, using thin Letraset tape, mark all these onto the back of the 5D screen. This would be the hard part.

The 5D has the ability to mount lenses from 4.5mm on up, since it has the shallow EOS mount, so pretty much every focal length could be mounted.

It's an expensive solution, though, but maybe there's a cheaper full frame digital camera that would work. If the cam has video playback you can shoot and show stuff to directors, set designers, ADs, etc to give everyone an idea of the frame.
 
Probably what you need is a lens finder with a FF35 groundglass; the only issue then is whether you want to actually look at several framelines drawn into the same GG. Perhaps someone can design a more easily interchangeable GG system, like a slide holder almost, though I'm sure someone will tell me that it's not that hard to switch out the GG in a lens finder.

Otherwise, you'd want to design an electronic lens finder with a sensor instead of a groundglass, essentially a simple "live" video camera finder that allows different framelines to be displayed. I've seen a few video lens finders in the past but the problem has always been the bulk & weight.
 
Yep, an electronic finder or a DSLR kind of defeats the purpose, which is to carefully inspect the composition with very little intermediary to distract you.
I definitely think a system with interchangeable ground glasses is the solution.
The question is which system can support all of these newly popular formats?

IBloom
 
Let's say you have Leica M9 that has the closest FFD between all digital still FF5mm cameras and then you could ask P+S Technik to custom made IMS for yours M9

and then with already existing set of IMS mounts you get almost all cine and still lens mounts on that

Arri PL, Panavision PM, Leica M+R+S, Canon EOS, Nikon F+GDX, C mount, B4, M42, Sony α (Alpha), Hasselblad, Minolta, Olympus OM, 4/3, etc,...

It would be a bit expensive but I'm sure it's possible...and that would be a sort of universal director's viewfinder.

Also it could be doable on Epic FF35mm but do not want to take right now any future responsibility for the warranty issue with that idea involved...
 
Ian, i could mark a groundglass with any aspect ratio you need. i could also do multiple aspect ratio's on one groundglass. I just need the measurements. I also have an Arri finder that you can remove the groundglass.
 
There are no still 35mm full frame director's finders. Except, of course, 35mm full frame cameras. And full frame DSLRs.

There are lots of movie director's finders out there, and some even use actual movie camera ground glasses, and if you pull one out and mark it with a fine sharpie using a digital caliper or some SMPTE RP40, you can have whatever markings you want if you are capable of the task.

But this won't work, guys, because the original request was for formats like 5D full frame, Epic 5K, and Epic FF. You can't mark those on a ground glass that's too small to begin with.

You asked for full frame format lines in a director's finder. Is this what you want or do you want something else?

Yep, an electronic finder or a DSLR kind of defeats the purpose, which is to carefully inspect the composition with very little intermediary to distract you.

How is a DSLR, turned to "ON", a distraction?
 
Cinemod from Melbourne, Australia should be able to make more mount adaptors for Leica M9 FF35mm digital camera.

LM_PLs.jpg

Leica M series to PL mount adaptor.

In that case you could have also Panavision PV mount, Canon EOS (dumb), Nikon F (dumb),

and many other mount adaptors that could be swapped on the base Leica M mount that has

FFD 27.80mm.

To repeat again the similar could be done with future Epic FF35mm...
 
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