My NEX-5 EVF...

[douglasf13]

I've come up with an easy design for a very effective EVF alternative for NEX. More info here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1042&thread=38124924

 

[kshapero]

What would all that look like folded up?

 

[FPjohn]

Very good! I maintain that the Nex is both the ultimate P&S and the smallest of direct View Cameras. We can also set it up so the "ground glass" has composition guides. 🙂

yours
FPJ

 

[douglasf13]

What would all that look like folded up?

There are many more pictures in the link I provided above.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Quite slick! This was my solution:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102008

Less elegant in terms of the camera's form factor, but very effective. Can be easily taken apart for more compact operation if desired (no glue or sticky tape).

Ben Marks

 

[douglasf13]

Thanks, my goal was to come up with something that added minimal bulk, and I believe that this makes the camera less bulky than adding one of those big, attachable EVFs like for the EP-2.

 

[efirmage]

This is slick. Depending on what Sony/Nikon/Everyone else comes out with between here and June, I may go with this kind of setup.

 

[douglasf13]

Here is another thread I started that outlines the flexibility of the NEX.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1042&thread=38139127&message=latest

 

[kshapero]

Here is another thread I started that outlines the flexibility of the NEX.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1042&thread=38139127&message=latest

yes, good stuff.

 

[douglasf13]

To further improve my "nexviewer" design, I built out the sides of the lcd hood by cutting up a business card and using black electrical tape. The side flaps are still thin enough to collapse down like normal, and these side add-ons block out side light even better than before. Sorry about the blurry cell phone pic:

At this point, I could probably come up with something to cover the hood opening at the bottom, but it really doesn't seem necessary.

 

[hishimaru]

Neat solution.
An LCDVF or Zacuto Z-finder might work really well too. Although they won't fold flat.

I've used these on DSLRs for shooting video and it helps tremendously as a focus aid and to get a good view in direct sun.

 

[douglasf13]

Yeah, the LCDVG/Zacuto solutions should work, but, since NEX is about being small, it was never an option for me. My solution adds little noticeable bulk to the camera when folded up.

 

[Nokton48]

Here's Mine.

Here's Mine.

Works great. No need at all for EVF.

Shown with my new Canon 100mm F3.5. What a sweet little lens, perfect on the Nex-3. Sharp as a razor with amazing background focus. Love it.

In fact I like it so much, I just bought a second "Kit of parts". So now I will have this rig, times 2.

 

[pajamas]

douglasf13 - thats a very nice looking half body case you got on the Nex - may I ask what is it and where can I get one?

Thanks!

 

[douglasf13]

Sure thing. It is by a Korean company called Ciesta, and you can find them on eBay. They use Italian leather, and the design has a little cutout so that you can easily tilt the LCD. It's by far the best half case I've seen, although it is a bit pricey at over $100 US.

 

[pajamas]

Thanks for the reply! 🙂

I wonder if you have compare this with sony's original half case?

 

[Pherdinand]

neat!
Don't you just see red-green-blue pixels instead of the image, this way? Or is the screen res so high that this magnification is too weak for such a problem?

 

[douglasf13]

Nope, the NEX's high res LCD actually looks pretty good like this, and the view is very similar to using a waistlevel finder on a Hasselblad with the magnifier popped up.

Although I haven't compared them directly myself, this contraption should actually have better image quality than a real EVF, outside of the barrel distortion, because of the different ways the two are built. To quote sybersitizen on another forum:

"You might not realize that the EVF uses a different technology than the LCD. [The A55 EVF] is a sequential field display with only 480,000 discrete pixels in it compared to 921,000 in the LCD. And each pixel in the EVF has to cycle through the three primary colors in continuous sequence, leading to color artifacts when there's movement. That's why Sony can claim the EVF has '1,440,000 dots conversion' in their literature (480,000 x 3 = 1,440,000). The EVF technology cannot actually match the LCD technology in practice."