Camera Labs

Anyone use an angle finder? Either the official one or a cheap 3rd party job?

Today I was out and wanting to do low level work and this seems like the way to do it short of getting down on the ground myself. Crouching only got me so far...

The Canon one has variable magnification so I assume there will be a brightness hit, but that is not a problem.

Will it do what I think it does? Then comes the question, do I go for the not cheap Canon version, or gamble on a 3rd party one?

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Photoplus the Canon dedicated magazine that you can buy in the newsagents has an article about angle finders this month.

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

Thanks for the heads up, I'll make a trip to the shops tomorrow

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

No worries, it was near the back i think (i was just browsing when i noticed it).

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

I bought a Nikon one a few years ago.

Biggest waste of my money basically because I rarely used it, I actually flogged it on eBay not too much later.

It did a decent job, but Id go for a third party one if they are any cheaper because I cant really see them doing any worse of a job.

Also doesnt live view obliterate the need for them?

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

Until Canon do a tilting screen like Sony's, live view is of limited value in this specific application. I'm unlikely to use it that often, but it fills in a gap.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Id get third party then. What are the price differences?

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

The 3rd party one I saw on ebay is about 1/4 the price of the Canon one. That's 1/4 of, not 1/4 off! So a huge price gap. I've had mixed luck with 3rd party stuff though...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Hi popo,

I've got the Canon version and have used it occasionally. It does what it says on the tin. Hard to know what else to say but I have to admit it rarely comes out of the pouch.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Mine arrived today.

Haven't tried it in anger yet. Only quickly popped it on to see how it feels. Gonna take a little getting used to.

Does pretty much what you expect, although I have two niggles with it. One is that you have to "focus" the angle finder itself, and it is different depending on what zoom setting you have it on. The other is what I describe as the "telescope eyepiece" effect where I normally encounter it. Unlike a camera viewfinder, you can't rest your eye on it and easily maintain full field of view. At the lower magnification setting, it isn't too bad. You can see the whole 7D image if you keep your rest the eye on the cup and centered. It is worse at high magnification though, where I find it hard to see any image at all unless I lift my eye slightly above the rubber cup. There you get a slightly cut circular image.

On the plus side, the higher magnification does exactly what it says and it is interesting to see that.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Thought I'd update here since I gave it field usage the other day.

On the zoom function, I found I tried it once and didn't use it after that. While it does what it says, it was very hard to use hand held for higher magnification macro (> 1x). Also, I was reaching the limits of the focus screen as the grain on that became visible with that increased magnification. So overall I used it in the lower magnification state.

I found aiming to be a bit difficult, but that will probably improve as I get used to it. My brain couldn't compensate enough for it and I often found myself pointing far above the subject.

Even with the angle finder helping you put the camera lower, it wasn't as much as hoped. I was sitting down, and there's only so far I can bend down from that position. So, yes it was lower than normally using the viewfinder, but you're not going to get ground level shots still without getting further down there yourself.

Overall, the use for hand held bug hunting is of mixed value. I think its strength is more for when you can get away with using a tripod to get rid of the holding issue. For hand holding really low, I think the external LCD displays might be a better choice.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.