When Phase
One released news of the new XF body I kept bugging my
camera dealer Capture Integration
for specific information regarding the improvements. What I was specifically interested in was the
rumor of a waist level viewfinder. I’m
still surprised today months later that they still accept my phone calls.
To make a
long story short I placed my order the day the XF was available for the body and waist level finder knowing the body would be released first
with the waist level coming shortly afterwards; all I had to do is be patient (yeah
sure I was). Having worked with Phase One products in the past I was well aware
that they take their time to make the product right the first time so I knew I
was in for a wait for the waist level; I
also had faith in my dealer.
Phase One XF, IQ180, Schneider LS 40-80 and the new waist level finder opened
Instead of me
reinventing the product description I’ll refer you to the following page that
gives all the technical details just click here.
Couple of
things to consider about the waist level finder …
First, since
I’m not putting my eye up against the viewfinder I find little issue with the
lack of a diopter adjustment and this is coming come a person wearing trifocal
glasses.
Second, and
much more importantly is the ability to see clearly in bright sunlight. Living in the southwest I
have abundant sunlight. I took the system outside in midday (which was very
bright) and had no problem seeing the viewfinder; actually the LCD was a little
washed out due to the bright light.
Third, and
this is a first for me. “Will this make me a better photographer?” The short
answer is yes and the reason I say this is that having this in my
kit will allow me to get a slightly different/better perspective without the
strain of bending over, or sitting in a pile of snow or other crap. I’ve lost count of the number of times I had
to become a contortionist in order to set the scene through the 90°
viewfinder. I oftentimes like to shoot
low to the ground and have had to lay down behind the camera in order to see
through the viewfinder. I’m not saying this will totally eliminate all this
however it will reduce the effort.
The waist
level might not be for everyone and I’m not suggesting it’ll replace the 90° prism;
I do recommend at least looking at one.
Many thanks to Dave Gallagher and his staff at Capture Integration.
Don
An impressive share, I recently given this onto a colleague who was doing a small analysis with this. And the man actually bought me breakfast because I came across it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for any treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending time to go over this, I’m strongly concerning this and really like reading more about this topic. If you can, as you grow expertise, could you mind updating your blog site with an increase of details? It is actually highly useful for me. Large thumb up for this text! Waist Cincher
ReplyDeletePleased to hear you got breakfast! I think I might of written more on the viewfinder however I must warn you I stopped using Phase One systems sometime ago and now only shoot with Fujifilm, currently as of writing this the GFX100.
ReplyDelete