Review: budget DSLR viewfinder

Solid attachment via click-system

About 3 weeks ago I received the 'Perfect' DSLR viewfinder for $46 shipped. I've had the pleasure to shoot some video with it and my conclusion is that 'cheap' in this case does not mean rubbish. Obviously they had to save somewhere and that's on the construction. This little viewfinder is not the most sturdy device and it's an all-plastic design (including the VF). I also have a clone LCDVF and that plastic is quite harder/thicker than what is used here. But it does not feel flimsy. (the weak part in this construction is the hinge)

plastic hinge: doomed to break..?

The way the viewfinder clicks to the (glued) metal frame is a delight and it feels very sturdy. I like this much better than the magnet alternative that you can more easily push off. Then there is the +- diopter which is nice for people who wear glasses. In the last year I have had to start using reading glasses so this adds a little confidence to focussing. The rubber eyecup is soft and comfortable to the eye. For review or settings it is really nice to have the flip-up design where you can switch between magnification and viewing the entire LCD without having to take off the entire device.

This viewfinder has made it possible for me to shoot video with my Canon 550D/T2i without using some kind of stabilization. I also own a SmallHD DP4 but sometimes you just want to shoot fast & simple: with the 'Perfect' viewfinder and your camera you can do just that.

practical flip-up design

Shooting classic cars

I spent my sunday shooting classic cars. Shooting photographs, mind you. Used my Canon 550D, Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC and 50mm 1.8. This job took so much out of me, I almost forgot to blog... That would have been the first day I'd have missed since I started. I am totally wasted. But the cars and locations were beautiful...

Mailbox: Hi-Capacity LP-E8 (aftermarket)

MINI-DV?? OH, WELL, AS LONG AS THEY WORK...

I am hired to do my first professional photoshoot in a few weeks and I'm starting to get nervous already... What camera, what lenses, how many SDHC cards, shoot RAW, do I have enough batteries. I think I got everything worked out: bringing my Canon 550D/T2i because it's a nicer photocamera than the GH2, in my opinion, particularly because of the form factor.
Besides, my only two autofocus lenses fit just the Canon: the Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC and the Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II. I will pack two 16 GB cards. My biggest worry was running out of juice, considering I only have three batteries, of which two are clones. So I ordered an extra two, 'hi-capacity' batteries, which I received today from ECELL. Two LP-E8 replacements, rated 1930 mAh a piece. (23,- incl shipping). That's considerably more power than the original 1120 mAh Canon battery. But what does that mean in real life? I guess I'll find out and let you know how they fare on the job.

WHAT'S THAT? MADE IN JAPAN?!

Usable audio on the Canon 550D/T2i

With Magic Lantern installed on the Canon 550D/T2i you can get good audio without having to buy separate audio recorders and sync that audio later in post. Many have said that the audio is not good enough for professional use. Period. But if you listen to Mordy here, the audio is perfectly usable for interviews. He also gives some good tips on setting the levels.


Canon T2i/550D with Magic Lantern: DSLR Audio that you can use! from Mordy G on Vimeo.

Beauty of Bokeh

A first experiment in defocus. Edited in... tadaa FCP X! Hard to say anything about it because I just delved in. It's a completely new and unfamiliar program... Will say more about it once I get to know the app. Definite iMovie feature: exported my timeline straight to Vimeo. But do I like that? The export editor is limited and I have no idea where the QT file is on my computer?! Or has my creation merely been absorbed by The Cloud?
But back to bokeh. It's just as hard to get a consistent bokeh as it is to get accurate focus!

Soft Summer in the City from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

And another 4,- lens!

I exchanged 2 of my 4,- lenses because they were defect and got two with M42 mounts. One of them is a Pentacon 50mm 1.8. It has a little slack in the focus ring but seems to work fine otherwise. I made a few quick snapshots around the house and I had a hard time to get proper focus closeby. Shot at 1/100 shutter but maybe I should have gone faster to eliminate handshake. A little further away it got better.

The biggest yardsale in the world (timelapse)

April 30 is Koninginnedag (Queensday) in the Netherlands, birthdate of the belated queen Juliana. It has evolved into a massive national party.
People sing, dance, perform, buy and sell. Half of Holland buys the crap that the other half wants to get rid of. Literally millions of people empty out their attics, basements, storages and closets to sit out on the street and make a few bucks.
The Vondelpark in Amsterdam is the place for kids to buy and sell toys, play instruments and do their thing, whatever it is. Like streetperformers they place a hat in which you can throw a few coins.

Shot on a Canon 550D/T2i and a Sony EX1-R

Queens Day: the biggest yardsale in the world from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Video with the 60,- Vivitar zoomlens

I've been taking some photographs with the Canon 550D/Vivitar 70-210 and it was time to shoot some proper video with it. After some failed attempts at recording moving images (shaking portable tripod, forgetting memorycard, no LCD viewfinder) I finally got around to taking along my heavy Manfrotto sticks and all the necessary accessories.

Canon 550D and Vivitar series 1, 70-210mm f3.5 from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Beautiful budgetlens: Vivitar 70-210mm 3.5 (series 1)

Last year I paid 65,- for this lens, including the original leather lenspouch, ND-filter, manual and shipping from the States. This is one heavyweight lens, especially after working with all these 50mm lenses. It's a zoomlens with a macro-function. Here are some pictures with the Vivitar mounted on the 550D: beautiful color, saturation and bokeh, sharp but not harsh. Jeez, I sound like a wine-connaisseur... (click on pics for large view)

 

Pics by a 4,- lens: the Petri 28mm 2.8

I walked out yesterday with the Canon 550D with the 4,- 28mm lens mounted to it and realized too late I had forgotten my LCD viewfinder. Since 'summer' has hit Amsterdam a few days ago, light is bursting through every crack of the city and overexposing everything and everyone. Nobody's complaining, mind ya... We usually don't see this weather before June.
But it was impossible to judge exposure without an LCD viewfinder. And I didn't have the right size ND-filter. Here's nonetheless a few pics I took (click on them for larger size).

NOSHIE

On the waterfront

bridge

ONE LAST TIME: WATERFOUNTAIN AT 1/4000 SHUTTER SPEED

The next 4,- lens

As mentioned in a previous post a few days ago, I bought 6 lenses for a smashing total of 25 euro's just to see what these 'dump-priced' lenses are capable of. I am new to the 'wonderful world of lenses' and I am very attracted to the whole concept of aesthetic subtleties, the way one piece of glass treats light differently than the other and how that affects sharpness, color and bokeh. (the 'bokeh' phenomenon in and of itself is worth an essay all by itself: the mystical word, the way it occurs, the followers and haters of its varying appearances...) But also: the build of the lens itself. The differences and similarities between the way they were manufactured 10 or 50 or 100 years ago. And how old, useless lenses become hot items.

Same lens, different camera: Panasonic GH2 & Canon 550D compared

I did a practical comparison between the Canon 550D and the Panasonic DMC-GH2. I took along five prime lenses and a tripod and set up both cameras with comparable settings, composition. Alternated camera's with the same lens. Everything was shot in 720p because for all practical purposes that's what I use most. Canon was set to ISO 100 and the Panasonic to 160. Mounted with the Carl Zeiss 25mm and 20mm f4 I upped both to ISO 200. Both were wide open, white balance was set to 6000K. Shutter at 50. Canon sat higher on the tripod because of a batterygrip, therefore a somewhat different perspective which is not solely due to difference in 'cropfactor'.(Canon 1.6 vs Panasonic 2.1)


Canon 550D/T2i & Panasonic DMC-GH2 comparison from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Coming up: Panasonic DMC-GH2 & Canon 550D compared

I shot some footage with the Canon 550D and the Panasonic GH2 using several different lenses from my recently purchased prime lens collection. Tomorrow I will post my findings in the form of a short video on the blog. For starter's here's a frame from both camera's.

FRAME GRAB FROM CANON 550D

FRAME GRAB FROM PANASONIC DMC-GH2

Magic Lantern update: Live View via HDMI!

The wizards from Magic Lantern have done a lot of 'magic' for us Canon 550D/T2i owners, but now a new release of ML has succeeded in realizing what to me was a great omission: being able to use all the nice features of Magic Lantern AND being able to focus via my Lilliput monitor at the same time. I have just downloaded and installed the latest ML update and HDMI-out works!
There is even an experimental peaking function which, at this point, is too 'rough' to be useful. But it shows that anything is possible as long as you put enough time and energy into developing the software. Kudos to everyone who has made this possible! (I will make a donation.)

Out of focus

Experimental Peaking Function

I owed you one

The day before yesterday I showed off my new prime lens collection minus one: the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 25mm f4. So here goes: she's got the stage all to herself. The Lego trainset was still out on the floor so I put on my conductor's cap back on and blew the whistle. It's not quite as smooth as a Konova slider, but a lot longer! Here's to boys and their toys...


I owed you one: back on track from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

My new prime lens collection

So you have a new set of lenses and the first thing that comes to mind is to take out the Lego trainset, strategically place assorted Toy Story, Teletubbie and other fantasy figures around the tracks and start filming. So that's what I did. I actually left out one lens that is part of this 'set': the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 25mm f4 because I couldn't find it. So I owe you one.
No grading, no CC. Everything shot on a Canon 550D.

My new prime lens collection from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Free DSLR moire-filter just released!

Ik had een paar dagen geleden een stukje geschreven over de gratis filters en hoe mensen het leuk vinden om anderen te helpen en hun vondsten te delen, toen ik een stukje las over een wanhopige -Nederlandse- filmer die ten einde raad was omdat zijn klant al het materiaal had afgekeurd dat hij gedraaid had met de Canon 5D Mark II. Reden: moiré. Dit kleine sprookje geeft precies aan waar ik het over had: de essentie van het internet, mensen die kennis delen, elkaar belangeloos helpen.

Timelapse of the tree-choppers

Ik heb een timelapse gemaakt van het snoeien van de boom in de achtertuin van de buren. Onmogelijk om de hele boom -en het snoeien- in één shot te krijgen dus het is een heel rommelige timelapse geworden. Bovendien was een gedeelte van de boom en de achtergrond fel zonverlicht en de rest in de schaduw. Verre van ideaal dus. Maar het blijft toch een mooi document van zo'n proces. Ik voel me altijd een beetje Idéfix, het hondje van Obelix, als er een boom te lijf wordt gegaan. Maar hij is niet gekapt, gelukkig, hij heeft alleen even een grondige knipbeurt gehad.

Timelapse of pruning a tree from Filmersblog.nl on Vimeo.

Super(Ko)nova?

Rond een uur of half zeven gisteravond werd er aangebeld en tot mijn verbazing stond de bekende man in het oranje TNT-pak onderaan de trap met een groot pakket. Meestal weet ik toch wel wat er aan eventuele bestellingen staat aan te komen, maar deze keer had ik eerlijk gezegd geen flauw idee. Had ik in een shopping-delirium wellicht een statief besteld?
Pas toen iedereen in bed lag, zo rond 22.30 uur, begon ik met de unboxing video. Eén rits met de schaar en ik zag dat er wederom een Konova slider in de doos zat. Ik was benaderd door Konova of ik een nieuwe review wilde maken van de nieuwe 'wagen' van de slider, nu met 4 lagers ipv 3, maar ik had niet een geheel nieuwe slider verwacht. Sterker nog, er was me alleen een nieuwe 'wagen' toegezegd, met instructies hoe die te bevestigen. Ik vermoed dat dat te bewerkelijk was en met een te groot risico dat ie dan misschien niet 100% zou lopen, dus hebben ze me maar een geheel nieuwe slider opgestuurd. Ik vind dat geen groot bezwaar.

Doe-het-Zelf door je vader

Ik heb deze video een behoorlijke tijd geleden gezien over een jongen die een schouderstatief met follow focus liet maken door zijn vader. Later wilde ik 'm nog een keer bekijken maar ik kon 'm nergens meer vinden. Tot vandaag. Een ode aan vakmanschap. Dit filmpje en het statief zijn juweeltjes.


DIY DSLR Wooden Shoulder Rig from Jonathan Clifford Bergqvist on Vimeo.