Review - LCDVF

[antiplastik]

Look what I found in my mail today:

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Tõnis from Estonia was so kind to send over a pre production model of his LCDVF (LCD View Finder) for review.
Basically this is a loupe that goes onto your 5D's lcd screen and turns it into a viewfinder thus making it possible to use it in bright daylight and to bring the cam closer to your eye when used in combination with a handheld rig.

Currently two other brands sell lcd loupes. Hoodman's Hoodlooupe 3.0 does the job for approx 100$ (I bought mine for 110€ in Europe) and Zacuto's Z-finder sells for 400$. Tõnis' LCDVF comes in at 170$.

This is his website: http://www.lcdvf.com/ and it doesn't give us much insight on the background of the company. Tõnis has been active on this forum for a while, we have seen his 3D renderings of the product and we have heard his ideas and concept, but nobody had seen anything in real life from him before so we took his posts with a grain of salt. Until now, because I'm about to unpack the real deal in front of your eyes and I can already tell you it's a promising product.

Before we start Tõnis wants us to know about this pre release version I'm holding in my hands:

"the eyecup design, optics etc will be the same but it will be beefier and with magnetic mount..."

"Basically the body cone will be at least twice as thick and it will feel much more substantial and as you can see tomorrow the click mount is not refined to perfection because the magnetic one will be much more reliable..."

"The shipping version will have metal mounting plate/shield that will not wear down or break in any situation."

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The insides of the box consisted of a Bluestar Eyecushion (which is great), the clip on frame, a microfiber cloth and the LCDVF itself. It was all well cushioned.

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The unit itself is handsome with it's black and red looks. From what I can tell the body cone is made of black plastic, the eyepiece made of rubber and the lens made of glass.

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The first thing that hit my eyes was the large eyepiece. Compared to my Hoodman Hoodloupe this thing is huge. What a pleasure!
(The second thing is the out of shape body cone. It's bendable with your hands but it will go back into the not so straight shape soon. This will also be a problem later when we attach it to the camera, as it doesn't fit the frame perfectly thus getting off too easy. As mentioned before Tõnis said this issue will be taken care of in the final shipping version as it will have a magnet mount much like the Macbook's magmounts and "the body on the shipping version will be twice as thick that is 4mm to 6mm at the screen side...")
The glass is pure and clear, holds very tightly in it's case and is easily cleanable from both sides.

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The Bluestar eyecushion is hard to get on. And this is a good thing! Because it means it won't get off easily either. And it shouldn't, because when you hold this thing to your eye it's a sensation much like in the cosyest bed. This whole construction is perfect as a viewfinder. Two thumbs up here.

We also note that there is no diopter wheel like on the Z-Finder or Hoodloupe 3.0. Is this a bad thing? I say no. I say it's a good thing, because it will make the optics better, and because I have good eyes that don't need a diopter change anyway. For all you folks wearing glasses I can tell you it's possible to use the LCDVF with glasses on. I tried this myself. You will have to suffer some pressure onto your glasses to make the cushion snuggle to your face, but it's possible, becasue there's still 2 cm of space to the glass.
I imagine shooting with the LCDVF on set. If I wore glasses, would I want to take them off just to use the camera and then put them on again? Of course not. Or even worse: If I wore contacts, would I want to take them out each time I use the cam, just to make use of the great diopter feature? For my money I'm totally into non diopter, but I'm aware I might step on you glass wearers toes. Then please correct me and tell me your philosophy.

Here are some side by side shots with the Hoodloupe:

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You can see that the overall build quality of the Hoodloupe is superior to the LCDVF pre release version. The harder, thicker body made of rubber and detailed construction of the diopter are it's better parts but as we'll shortly see the optical quality and practical usability of the hoodloupe is just way way way behind the LCDVF.

Let's look at the optical quality, but first we have to pop the thing on:

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(You take the 3D printed frame, add some double sided tape on the back and place it's top part underneath the camera's stills viewfinder. This works great, fits perfectly and everything holds in place except for the part that the normal tape doesn't stick to the frame's surface.
So I helped myself by placing some of the ultra sticky tape just on the bottom, as it's thicker.

We know the final model will come with a different mounting system, but we don't know what it will feel like. I love the tight fit of this frame underneath the stills viewfinder, but the surface should be suitable for normal double sided tape to hold it ultra tight in place.)

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Now we pop on the LCDVF. (It's not a perfect fit, as I mentioned before, because the body is a little out of shape and a little bendy. Tõnis said the final model will have a more solid body so any issues regarding this might be solved there.)

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We pop it on and the Hoodloupe is jealous already. Why? Because the LCDVF looks just much much cooler. Those rubber straps of the Hoodloupe really went on my nerves the last months and I'm so glad they're gone for good with the LCDVF! Also the Hoodloupe always tended to move around, never staying over the lcd. LCDVF just stays with it's fixed mounting frame.

For now (without the magmount) the LCDVF still does a not so good job holding in place. You can imagine it will fall off at the weight of my big scissor falling onto it from a height of 10cm, but it won't go off just by shaking the whole thing. It holds, but it doesn't hold well enough with the clip mount. Note: Tõnis says the clipmount will be replaced by the magnet mount in the final shipping version.

How is it on the Z-Finder? The Zacuto boys use a velcro solution to attach their loupe onto the 5D. I imagine, although it's cheapo, it's a good solution. The magnet mount by LCDVF might be better but until we hold a final version of the product in our hands we can't tell.

Optics of the LCDVF:

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LCDVF optics: These photos were taken from the center, 1 cm left off center and 1cm right off center. The optics quality is totally flawless, no matter from which angle or side you look at the glass. This means you will also see the lcd when your eye isn't perfectly in the optical center of the eyepiece.

Hoodloupe is very disappointing in that matter. Here are the same shots taken through the hoodloupe:

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Hoodloupe optics: The people who have used the Hoodloupe know what I'm talking about. Once your eye isn't looking exactly through the center of the glass, the whole image gets very distorted. Additionally the eyepiece doesn't fit your eye, so it's even harder to keep the eye centered.

I don't have a Z-finder here for comparison, but apart from the diopter it will be hard to top the LCDVF as it's optics are perfect.

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Verdict

The LCDVF's future looks golden from my point of view. It has what a good lcd viewfinder needs (good optics!!!) and some things I haven't even thought it would need (a good, large eye cushion). We'll still have to wait and see if Tõnis turns out to be a reliable seller, but looking at his really thought through product he earned my sympathy. I'm positive that the final production version of this viewfinder will be able to keep up to our expectations.

Pros
- perfect optics!
- large, cosy eyepiece with perfect fit
- doesn't move around like the Hoodloupe
- low price compared to Z-finder
- looks cool on a Canon.
- no diopter

Cons
* - out of shape body
* - clip on doesn't clip on as good as it should
* - clip on frame doesn't stick on sticky tape for mounting
- no diopter

* on pre release version

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Thanks antiplastik for taking the time to review the LCDVF.

It's reassuring to see it exists, even though it is still the pre-production model.

How do you feel it adds to stabilisation when shooting with non-IS lenses handheld?

[antiplastik]

How do you feel it adds to stabilisation when shooting with non-IS lenses handheld?

Any lcd loupe is equally supporting when going handheld. It's an essential part of a handheld rig cause it will stabilize/stick the rig to your head. The LCDVF is perfect for that cause it's eyepiece sits so neatly in that eyehole on your face.

Great review. I'm sold on this even though it's only a pre release. If the magmount and thicker wall live up, then Tonis has a product that will easily out perform the Zacuto at a price I think is very reasonable for the LCDVF.

Thank you to Tonis and antiplastik.

My advice to Tonis, make a lot of these! You may have more orders coming than you know.

[yoclay]

Thanks for the very in depth review from the commander in chief! I have a Z-Finder and will be recieving the LCDVF. The Z-Finder is terrific. I suspect Tonis's viewfinder will be on par. If that is the case, it is a no-brainer, at $170 it is just at the right price-point that one should be. In any case hat's off to all the parties concerned. Lot's of hard work is behind all of this whether it be from Zacuto, Tonis or Hoodman. Cheers!

Great Review, one question though.
Does the eye cup rotate for left eye dominant users?

[antiplastik]

Does the eye cup rotate for left eye dominant users?

No it doesn't rotate. It's all like one piece. Maybe the magnet mount will allow 180° reverse mounting.

So if this is the prerelease version...is the final release version still shipping on the date stated here when questioned by a customers?

" 58mm Rokkor wrote:All we want to know is WHEN?
3th of Sept (hopefully via fastest UPS service possible) customers who have specified custom shipping (for customs fees) will be served so.
Damnit, first i typed 1st then looked at the schedule and realized it was the 3rd... but rushed with the edit so the typo passed...
Thanks,
T"

Informed minds want to know...

PS I really appreciate your honest, objective analysis of the product.

Just FYI, the new Z-Finder v. 2 does not use velcro at all. It uses a frame like this pre-release version of the LCDVF (although the frame does not extend to go around the pentaprism as well). It comes with an adhesive back on it that you simply remove the backing from and then place on the camera. Zacuto suggests you place a weight on the frame, camera with lens side down in order to allow the glue to cure overnight.

I'd be curious to see how Tonis' magnetic mount might work in comparison, since the magnets would need to be rather strong to prevent slippage. I think his product is an interesting compromise between the Hoodman and the Zacuto.

[58mm Rokkor]

Looks promising!

Some random thoughts:

* My first thought when seeing the photo was that the plastic body looked flimsy and thin. But this is the advance prototype and the shipping units are supposed to be thicker.

* The glass (the important bit) looks really good.

* The magnetic mount is yet to be analyzed and proven over time, as will the susceptibility of impact knocks.

* It looks way cooler than the Hoodman.

* I am left eyed and hope I can rotate the eye cup or the entire VF to match my left eye.

* I no longer have 20-20 vision. I need an eye test but so far have resisted the inevitable. How the focus will be remains to be seen. This could be a non issue or a deal breaker for some users.

* As others have stated I think the price point on this thing is well thought out. Sure, some will go with the Z-Finder but that is more than double the cost of the LCDVF. I do think think this unit could shut down a lot of Hoodman sales.

* Customer service? This could be an issue. I hope Tonis gets better at communication. The fact is that there are several threads on different sites complaining about communication issues. A lot of these details could be addressed with a well executed website though.

I look forward to testing mine when it arrives. I did some hand held shooting in the city today and the bright sunshine was a pain on screen viewing. I just hope my left eyedness and the fact that there is no focus adjustment is not an issue for me.

I have nothing but best wishes for success with this product ( I know I have been critical of the communication issues...)