Multifocal viewer

_T_

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Feb 21, 2017
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EP
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4x5 Format
Not very safe to download pdf files of unknown source
 

koraks

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_T_ said:
Not very safe to download pdf files of unknown source
Click to expand...

It's OK. But here you go.

Devices like these have been in use since the dawn of photography, and arguably even before that. Van Gogh used a similar device for setting up his compositions, and he sure wasn't the first to use it for painting, either.
 

xkaes

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I use a very similar device with a 4x5" hole in the middle of an 8x10" gray card -- with a small retractable cloth tape measure (marked with my lenses, as shown above). I hold one end of the tape measure in my teeth and extend the tape measure with my left hand and then move the gray card along it with my right.

The 4x5" cut-out is attached with a piece of tape so I can still use it as a 8x10" gray card for metering, and I also have a #90 wratten filter similarly attached to view the scene in B&W.
 
OP
OP

sergio caetano

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Aug 16, 2003
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sao paulo -
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Koraks
Thanks for your help (silly me).
Xkaes
As I didn't have #90 filter, I used Ambervision glasses, it was broken so I don't have this support no more, but just to remember, glasses with similar color of #90 , I think, is another option.
 

Doremus Scudder

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Sep 10, 2002
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Eugene, Oregon
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I use a Zone VI viewing filter with a much smaller, but proportionally-sized, opening. Noting the distance it is from my eye after framing my desired view allows me to choose the correct lens. I could probably quantify this by knotting the lanyard at specific lengths, but really don't need to; I rarely have to change lenses after my initial choice.

The point being, any proportionally-sized opening with some way to estimate the distance from the viewer's eye and translate that into lens focal length will assist in choosing the right lens the first time.

Best,

Doremus
 

Sirius Glass

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Jan 18, 2007
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Southern California
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After I have used a lens several time using a slr, I know before raising the camera what the field of view will be before raising the camera.
 
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