View Catcher - a new pair of eyes?

Glenn

Glenn

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Does anyone else use one of these things? They are about a fiver on amazon, which is expensive for what they are, but I find myself using mine quite a lot. They are great for previsualising a composition or aspect ratio before you get your camera out. There is a hole in the middle which I believe artists use for isolating colours but I discovered something about it that I should perhaps have realised before. If your eyes are not as young as they once were, the hole acts to improve the lens aberrations in your eyes and your specs, much like stopping down the lens of your camera. I find I can see more detail when I hold it up to my glasses, particularly in darker environments like the inside of a church.

BTW, I have new spectacles in case anyone thinks I should be visiting my optician. :cool:
 
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They have re-invented the wheel again. Back in the dark ages when amateur photographers mostly used medium format, film, and the darkroom were the norm. These were quite common, but usually made from two pieces of card that was cut into 2 'L' shaped sections, so they could get a better idea of what a scene could look like in almost any format. I used one of these which was about 12" x12" when put back together to make a square. It cost me precisely nothing because I used an off cut from a mounted print frame. I use glasses now but not when I started out but peering through a tiny hole would not be suitable for me.
 
I made several of them many years ago and have one in each camera bag and another in my jacket. They are 5x4" of black plastic or cardboard (white one side, black the other), with aperture varying with a small flap to see useful aspect ratios. Also they have a list on them of distance from my eyes for various lens focal lengths. They're quite handy to decide whether or before getting out the camera and changing lenses. Are these the cheapest possible gadgets?
 
I made some fancy cardboard ones, 6x6 and 5x4, with overhead projector transparency film on which I marked rule of thirds and rule of fifths guidelines. I still use them sometimes if deconstructing photos in photobooks.
 
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