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EVF advice for focusing long lenses- Canon 150-600 with 2x

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greg huglin

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I've got my old Canon 150-600 with a 2x mounted on my Scarlet. The touchscreen is pretty dificult to use to follow focus with in bright sunlight.
I need to buy an EVF with a diopter to correct my eye. I've read many reviews about Red EVF's and aftermarket ones. If some long lens shooter can give me some advice, I will be eternally grateful. I live in Santa Barbara and cannot find anyone in the area with a EVF to try out.
Thanks.
 
Greg, I've used that lens in bright sunlight in Africa a fair bit with the 5" touchscreen. Critical focus by eye is challenging - but it can be helped by making a long hood and by assigning one of the buttons on the side of the lcd to 'magnify'. Turn the lcd up to full brightness and don't use the 'peaking' function - I find the peaking band too wide for critical focus.
I find the bomb evf OK - I have one that is reasonable, but I tried another recently that was unusable. The new OLED evf should be much better but I would test before buying.
Another route would be to use a larger monitor e.g. 7 or 9" - not my preferred solution because of the extra bulk and bigger hood etc, but it does work.
 
Hello Greg,

Great advice from Mark.

Especially when shooting at wider focal lengths with the 150-600, I find the "magnify" feature to be important for critical focus with the 5" LCD on the Epic. The "focus" peaking feature does work well for me, when shooting at the telephoto end of the lens. I often use strong reading glasses (3.0 or 4.0) and a shade hood with the screen. The 3rd party magnifier hoods now available make the LCD more viable for exterior fast action telephoto shooting.

The bulk of the LCD screen with a hood can be an issue though. For me the smaller form factor of an EVF makes it easier to use the left eye to keep track of the subject, in the context of its surroundings, and keep the right eye at the eyepiece.

A few years ago I looked at some of my early Red One 4K footage projected on a big screen. The images from a 25 year old 150-600 looked quite amazing. There was a very clear resolution hit when I used the 1.4X and 2X though. Since that screening I've worked harder to get closer to my subjects (not always possible of course) and avoid using the extenders.

With a 2X or 1.4X on the 150-600 I also find follow focus tougher -because of the resulting lower contrast and resolution. My 150-600 (at 500mm) is as sharp as my 500 mm f4 Nikon ED AIS lens but a little lower in contrast. Focus is easier for me to gauge quickly with the prime -slightly better contrast seems to make a big difference for focus determination.

I recently bought the OLED EVF, for use on the Epic. I was surprised at how much smaller the viewing image is compared to the original Red EVF for the Red One… but the image is much sharper and crisper. I find that it works very well with my 150-600. When there is time for it, hitting the magnify button is still a good idea, especially at 150mm.

If at all possible I too strongly recommend that you find some way to try out the various choices, before a purchase, to see if they work well for your eye and style of shooting. Maybe you'd find that the original Red EVF (heavy, lower rez. but good deals used) or the LCOS EVF (good deal from Red on the BT ones) would be enough. Despite the bulk maybe you'd find the 9" touchscreen, was a good way to go.

It would be good to hear back what you decide.

All the Best,

Michael
 
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I fully agree with Michael re the extenders - I've used the Optex 2x PL mount with the 150-600 and while it might get you out of a hole occasionally, resist the temptation to leave it on - just do whatever you can to get closer - even if it takes a few more days!
 
Good advice guys, thanks for helping him answer some of his questions, I had similar questions about the 2x extenders.
 
Guys,
Thanks for the advice. I'm trying out a RED EVF today but I'm thinking about the Grid 5.0 and use it to shield the screen. I am used focusing this rig on my old Arri-3 with the 150-600 plus 2x pretty successfully. Zooming and keeping focus is pretty difficult though since my 150-600 is the old style, push, pull and rotate. Nice to hear that this old lens still looks good at 4k. I am using the Schneider (Century) Universal to Eos adaptor and a Canon 2x extender and hopefully it will all look okay since I haven't shot anything yet, just assembling the rig. I'd rather get closer to my subject matter but a lot of what I shoot is big wave towsurfing or dolphins riding waves so they're usually located pretty far away. I will most definitely experiment with that 'magnify' feature and once I figure all of this out, will post the results. I hope I can get a high enough shutter speed at 4k at a low ISO to shoot with this rig at wideopen- F11. The next problem to solve is that I have been using a O'Connor 50 head for many years but think I'll have to upgrade to the O'Connor 100. Any other advice would be most welcome! I just need to find a few inflatable dwarves to pack with me to carry all this stuff.
 
We found a hood with an Eye piece adaptor glass in it which turns for 5 inch LCD in to a large EVF. Its made by Grid in Brazil, It seems to work better than a Bomb EVF for critical focus, its inexpensive an worth a try to see if it suits your eye.

The Canon Optex conversion is also not supposed to be Parafocal as you have probably found. Theres a centre 2000 version which is supposed to be a true parafocal zoom but Ive never seen one to verify.
 
I've been using the Century 2000 150-600 recently. It is a total rehouse of the Canon Optics - but significantly heavier than other conversions that just changed the mount.

It is indeed parfocal - not that you'd probably want to zoom with it, but it is good to be able to zoom in to check focus before composing.
 
Nice footage Greg. It is definitely difficult to get the camera close to subjects like that, and be on firm ground at the same time!

Another option besides using your 2X extender is to crop in from 4K in post. You may find that the resolution loss is comparable. It may even be less.

Your 150-600 is probably sharper when stopped down some. F11 is the sweet spot on mine. If you end up shooting wide open (because of the 2 stop loss with the 2X) then that on top of the optical loss with the extender might give a softer image than cropping would. The crop option is more viable with the Epic at 5K. It might be worth testing with Scarlet at 4K though.

I have an O'Connor 100 that I have used and liked for long lens work from fixed positions. Mine has had fluid leak trouble twice though. It's a very old model with a heavy ball leveler device under it. The weight has been a great help in windy weather, but it's sure tough to hike very far with. One with a Mitchell mount or 150mm ball is much lighter.

A magnifier hood like the Grid does work well with the LCD VF, and is the least expensive option. The bulk may be an issue but you may indeed prefer it over an EVF.
 
Michael,
Thanks a trillion for the advice. I mocked up a hood like the Grid and tried it but my eye won't focus that closely so I need something with a diopter. Will try the RED evf's when I can borrow them. How much difference is there from the old RED eve to the new OLED for long lens work? I will most definitely try your idea of cropping in from 4k rather than using the 2x.
 
greg, have you tried...

greg, have you tried...

the cinema oxide carbonite scope ? Very reasonably priced now. It does have a diopter adjustment and allows comfortable focussing with the touchscreen lcd. I shoot wildlife, and I find this combination very effective, even with lenses up to 800mm. The focus assist (peaking) button does help, too. But going the magnifying route is much too slow for me, unless my subject does not move.

I could use my old red evf, but I wanted to spare weight. With my brand new carbonite scope attached to the touchscreen lcd, things are very easy again, and so lightweight...
 
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