open sports viewer for your camera

[Derry]

I shoot a lot of the grand kids sports (Olympus E3 DSLR) in dim lit gyms and trying to follow the action through the viewfinder all the time gets to be a pain,, I had seen a small red dot viewer a year past that mounts in the flash hot shoe allowing easy following of the action,, endless searching on the web has not found one though,,

so I decided to make my own this past week with some spare items in my shop,, just shot the granddaughters volleyball game and it works great,, very easy to follow the game with both eyes while following the ball (action) with the sight eye viewing through the pointer,, the camera can be any distance from you to view,, I always use a monopod,,

I used my Oly 35-100 f2 lens due to the dim areas and would peek through the view finder occasionally when changing mm length just to be sure I was aligning on the center focus point of the camera,, I use S-AF with a constant half press of the release to keep the lens focused on the main subject while moving,,

just passing an idea along that may help your action shooting,,

Derry

[Byron Gale]

Cool idea, Derry!

...and nicely done working in a cameo appearance by the newsletter, too... :p

[Danudin]

That is Great! I can think of a few wildlife situations that would help with!

One question is attachment, that seems a bit permanent to me could we see a close-up or is that patent pending.

Your talent impresses me again and again.

Ron

[Derry]

Ron, sure nothing fancy,, is very easy to remove as it just slips into the flash hot shoe on the camera,, nothing permanent,,

used a small piece of plywood (I build RC planes and boats) glued to a piece of wood block for the two plastic tubes to be mounted on,, drilled a hole up from the bottom to center the wire guide and then super glued it all together,, had to build up the bottom of the plywood mounting pad a little to assure a snug fit in the strobe shoe,, the wire can be bent to assure the top aligns up with the cameras center dot of focus,,

Derry

[robpendragon]

:confused: Just curious, couldn't you just use the Live view screen with the image boost on? I love the articulated screen on the E3 especially when I'm taking shots from a awkward angles.

[Danudin]

Thanks Derry if you have no objections I might have a crack at making one but being a Klutz please don't expect a picture of it too soon, but I will post one here when I eventually get around to it, (the other day someone gave me a square tuit, cause he hadn't got a round tuit either).

I was worried about impinging your copyright but then realized that it isn't a concern as I will make it up side-down from your point of view, you people from the Northern Hemisphere being on the bottom of the world so to speak.

Thanks for your Idea and quick reply I really do appreciate it.

Ron
(Up Over - Not Down Under)

p.s. Had not seen Rob's post, as I was typing and would like to add that that function is not available on a Nikon D70s so The "Derry Scope" is ideal, Wow now it's named, better trademark that next week Derry

[Derry]

Rob, the live view is not really good for quick moving subjects as have tried,, it also has a time limit of use before it will get warm and the camera shuts down, had that happen doing some macro work in the sun,,

I have found it is very easy to use the open tube with both eyes following the action,,

I never did find it very easy to follow the action while watching a screen especially when zoomed in,, have tried fast action prior on several cameras and it never really worked for me,, too slow and camera lag is a killer,,

Derry