On May 1, 2006, at 9:33 AM, mike wilson wrote:
There's no point in framing at waist level if you then have to bend
double to focus. It's a paradox with this type of finder that I
never resolved. The original post gave me the impression that part
of the desire was to be less obtrusive. Not sure it can work
like that.
Ah, grasshopper, you have not been given the Waist Level Teaching...
There are at least two ways to work focusing with a waist level finder:
1) You set focus by scale and DoF. This works fine for many types of
subjects that do not require critical focus.
2) You pick the camera up to mid-chest level, tip your head forward
to see the focusing screen with magnifier in place, focus critically.
Then fold back the magnifier and drop the camera back down to the
height where you want to make the exposure for framing.
Both of those techniques work beautifully with my Rolleiflexes,
Hasselblads, Nikon F2 and F3 with waist level finders, etc. Very
unobtrusive to the subject because the exposure is made at a
different time from when you set the focus and your eye is not
putting pressure on them through the viewfinder directly.
A new option that I find with the Sony R1 is to use the flexible spot
AF right at waist level: The finder is large and clear enough to
place the focus point right on what I want to capture with the
joystick and touch the focus button (or shutter button if the
camera's set on AF). Bingo, the focus is set perfectly every time.
Godfrey
