The Bino Viewer

[david_hall6]

Someone has lent me one of these for an Arca Swiss. I used it

for the first time tonight and WOW, what a difference Right Side

Up makes. I found focusing easier, using movements was

MUCH easier and faster without having to move the loupe

around all the time. The experience honestly made me wonder

how I have gotten by without one. I almost felt like I was cheating

by not using a dark cloth, like I was going to lose my upside

down vision, the way your eyesight gets worse once you start

with glasses. I also wonder if I will make fewer abstract pictures

if the image on the screen makes sense all the time.

 

Do you use a Bino viewer? Have you in the past and then given

it back for a good old dark cloth?

 

dgh

[enrico__]

What is a Bino Viewer? I guess its some sort of reflex viewer to put over your g/g.

 

You did make an interesting comment - "I almost felt like I was cheating by not using a dark cloth, like I was going to lose my upside down vision"...

I would agree!.. i know this may seem stupid but looking at things rights ide up just aint the same.

 

Does anyone know of a viewer of sorts which would fit a 4x5 graflex back??

 

.

[armin_seeholzer]

Hi David

 

I'm using a bino since 5 years on my Arca and want miss it. But for backpakers it is not the right thing and for my Horseman HF I don't have one anyway. So I expirience booth worlds from time to time.

But for studio work and architecture it is a must in my opinion!

Good light!

[andreas_schmidt2]

I have never had the opportunity to see one of these viewers in reality. But I'm curious, how do you focus with them? You can't use a loupe any more and if there is one built in, it will be fixed at one location and you cannot move it to the point which you want to focus? I can hardly imagine to work with that limitation. Do I miss something?

 

Apart from that, what is the weight of the Arca Bino Viewer?

[ellis_vener_photography]

Wit h the Arca-Swiss Bino reflex: the 2.2x (I think, don't quote me) magnifying loupes

are built in and you change the angle by tilting the "box" for the finder to find the

best vertical angle for the part of the screen you want to see. The limitation isthat you

cannot also change the horizontal angle, but this is true of all binocular reflex finders

for 4x5. I like the Arca-Swiss version much beter than others I have tried, including

Sinar's. All other bino reflex's I've tried tilt the angle of the mirror but the box is rigid

in it's geometry to the camera body. The Arca-swiis is hinged at the bottom edge of

the box, so you are moving your head & eyes. This seems to make a difference.

[steve_singleton3]

Note that the bino viewer for the 6x9 Arca does not include a magnifier at all. That makes it fine for framing a scene quickly, but not for focus adjustment. For me, the 4x5 magnifier is just enough to do the job.

[scott_jones2]

I use the Horseman folding binocular viewer on my Toyo VX125 almost always. (the picture shows the device on another forum users camera) I LOVE IT. I finding focusing and composing much easier. It is light weight and has a knob for adjusting the angle of view. I can't remember the last time I used my dark cloth. The real surprise for me however, was that with my aging 47 year old eyes, the reflex viewer has a built in 2.5x binocular viewer and so I hardly ever have to use my loupe now. With the dark cloth I was usually too close to the ground glass and thus had to have special glasses to see the whole glass in focus . Then I would usually have to use the loupe. Now with the viewer I find that I can see everything with my regular glasses because of the magnification and only rarely have to use the loupe. The whole contraption swings to the side so that you may have access to the ground glass if needed.

 

If you are shooting with a significant down angle however, it is very hard to use because of the angle of the viewing face mask. I then fall back on the darkcloth. But if you are shooting up then the angle of the viewer helps substantially.

 

All in all, very comfortable, convienient, and easier for those of us who like "right-side-up" and viewing with magnification...

 

Scott<div></div>

[doug_dolde]

I use the Arca Swiss reflex viewer on my Metric 4x5 Field. It's very bright and easy to focus even using tilt. I almost never use a dark cloth anymore.<div></div>

[michael_mcblane]

David:

 

I know what you mean. I was wanting to do portraits with my Linhof and the upside down and backwards was really inhibiting me. I bought the reflex viewer which is not binocular but the image is certainly easier to compose. Along with the bright screen it is a pleasure to work with.

 

Michael McBlane

[emmanuel_bigler]

I have the Arca Swiss bino viewer for my Arca Swiss 6x9 FC and like it very much, being an addict of MF Rollei TLR cameras, this makes virtually no change in framing. I do not use it for backpacking, instead I use a monocular RMFx Hasselblad mirror viewer whitch is very light and small, but crude. The nice thing with the Arca reflex viewer

is that you can tilt the optical axis to adjust for maximum brightness. The only "minus" side is that it is almost as big as the 6x9 camera itself ;-);-)