does anybody make a direct viewer for 4x5, something like a big loupe?

[bicycletricycle]

i have seen the reflex viewers but i was thinking that something like a big loupe wouls work well, could i make one out of a bellows and some kind of lens or something. I shoot at night and it is pretty dark and im looking for something to help. any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Gossens makes / made a ground glass meter that might help.

PE

 

[rbarker]

The reflex viewers are OK for viewing the entire GG, but the one I have (Toyo) doesn't have a means of magnifying for fine focusing. I've thought about making a Velcro-attached viewing bag that would cinch around a regular loupe.

 

[removed account4]

toyo also makes a monocular loupe that clips right onto the back of their cameras. i use it on other cameras too (without clipping it on) .. there is no way to focus "it" ... it works okay for what it is ...

http://www.toyoview.co.jp/contents/accessories.htm

good luck!
john

 

[herb]

direct viewer

Ebony makes a bellows with a lens in it for attaching to the rear of the camera so you can use it without a dark cloth. It is ok for general work, but you can't do really fine focusing, but then I doubt one can with a reflex viewer either.

Robert White in the UK makes one just like it for less money, occasionally has one "second hand" to use the British term

both the above will fit with graflok style backs

 

[Campbell]

For about three months I used the viewer for Ebony cameras made by Robert White that herb mentions. I didn't care much for it. With some shorter lenses I had to move my head around to see the entire image at once, plus it was difficult to see the image on the glass in dimmer light. But at least it cost a lot less than the one made by Ebony itself.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Linhof makes a viewer with a loupe attached to a bag bellows. I think you can adjust it so that you can use the same viewer both to see the whole groundglass and close up like a regular focusing loupe, but I've never used one.

Sinar makes a binocular viewer that can attach to a bag bellows or regular bellows for viewing the whole groundglass directly. I tried Tom Duffy's on his 5x7" Sinar P2, and it works great.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Gossens makes / made a ground glass meter that might help.

PE

Sorry, where was my mind.

Of course you want to focus, not meter the exposure.

This probably wouldn't even help you for the exposure at night.

PE

 

[Johnny V]

I made an 8x10 reflex viewer without a loupe using a plexi tile mirror...it's light and easy to cut. I used black poster board for 45% angles. Was used mostly for studio work that required shooting straight down.

 

[Ryuji]

Polaroid Land Camera MP-4 has a nice viewfinder scope with a magnifying lens like you described. I used to have one that I took from a junk MP-4, but I think I lost it sometime in the past... it's not ready to be mounted on any camera other than MP-4 but that shouldn't be too hard...

135mm Tominon lens reverse-mounted on this camera is also an excellent enlarging lens.

 

[Shmoo]

Just wondering if anybody has tried using an Optivisor as a loupe instead? It would certainly be more convenient...just wonderin'...

 

[Nacio Jan Brown]

Maxwell Precision Optics makes a 4x loupe with a 3.5" diameter field of view, big enough to view a whole 6x7 neg. http://www.mattclara.com/maxwell/html/loupe3a.html