Found An Articulating Screen Solution In A Drawer....

[BTM_Pix]

Well, sort of.

I was clearing out some stuff and camera across a flexible mirror with a cutout for a tripod screw.

I used to use it a long time ago for positioning cameras on short floor tripods behind goals etc to keep my knees dry and my back in one piece before live view to phones became a thing.

Because its such a flexible arm I thought it might be worth having a go of re-utilising it to give a low tech solution for cameras that don't have a forward facing screen and its actually not bad at all.

As you can see, you connect it to the camera via a screw into the tripod socket or between the screw of an actual tripod and the camera as I've done here.

You then position the mirror at an angle up and behind the camera and it gives you a view of the screen (albeit reversed  ) over it.

Its hard to convey in a picture but it is actually really effective and more than good enough for anyone wanting to do vlogging on a camera without a forward facing screen. Even cameras with rigid non-moveable screens like this LX100 and the Original BMPCC work fine with it.

Anyway, as the forum is, quite understandably, being dominated by discussions of new cameras with ever increasing price tags I thought it might be nice to show that for a few quid we can still stick it to the man and get round their screen restrictions

Well, I say a few quid but there is one drawback to this particular low-fi solution and that is that at this point you are probably expecting an eBay or amazon link to buy one but, alas, like all good drawer finds I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of where I got it as a single item (though I know I did and it was less than £5).

However, it is available as part of a Polaroid Selfie Stick bundle for £10 so still a cheap solution if you need it.

http://amzn.eu/d/3QeMCA5

 

[IronFilm]

6 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

You then position the mirror at an angle up and behind the camera and it gives you a view of the screen (albeit reversed  ) over it.

Reversed could mean a real mind fuck for when you're trying to frame yourself and talk at the same time!

 

[BTM_Pix]

37 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Reversed could mean a real mind fuck for when you're trying to frame yourself and talk at the same time!

 

Years ago, a friend of my brother borrowed a Hasselblad 500cm from his Uncle and decided he wanted to go and shoot a fire engine as it emerged on from the station on a call.

He waited patiently at the end of the forecourt until there was a call and framed the engine as it was emerging with all lights blazing, fired a frame off and thought he could get another one off but thought better of it as the engine was bearing down on him so he quickly took evasive action and stepped to the side.

Not being familiar with the 500cm he of course neglected to take into account the reversed image in the waist level finder and stepped the wrong way.

He got away with a broken leg but was persona non grata at his Uncle's house for a long time as the camera had fared less well.

[IronFilm]

OMG!!!

That poor Hasselblad ?

[matthere]

I have recently been thinking of creating a periscope type thing with two mirrors.. One directly facing the screen to reflect the view upwards, then the other above it to direct the view forward.. solves the reversing problem.

?

 

[Anaconda_]

4 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

As you can see, you connect it to the camera via a screw into the tripod socket

I hear epoxy will do the job and keep your tripod socket free.

[Topcat]

Thanks for the find. I was thinking of order this one https://www.amazon.com/Vlogging-Mirror-for-Tilt-Screen-Cameras/dp/B075DJ8X6Y. But it is out of stock so ordered the polaroid since it seems more flexible. 

[Andrew Reid]

You can get a spare camera LCD panel for about 30 quid (I bought a Sony A7S one on eBay once).

It's about the same size and weight of that mirror

Now... imagine we take the LCD out of the camera and extend the wire. Put it on the end of that rod. There you have it, the perfect REAL articulated screen!!

[kaylee]

On 9/19/2018 at 7:29 AM, BTM_Pix said:

Years ago, a friend of my brother borrowed a Hasselblad 500cm from his Uncle and decided he wanted to go and shoot a fire engine as it emerged on from the station on a call.

He waited patiently at the end of the forecourt until there was a call and framed the engine as it was emerging with all lights blazing, fired a frame off and thought he could get another one off but thought better of it as the engine was bearing down on him so he quickly took evasive action and stepped to the side.

Not being familiar with the 500cm he of course neglected to take into account the reversed image in the waist level finder and stepped the wrong way.

He got away with a broken leg but was persona non grata at his Uncle's house for a long time as the camera had fared less well.

thats... one of the best photography stories ive ever heard. thats amazin

[leslie]

On 9/21/2018 at 7:36 AM, Andrew Reid said:

You can get a spare camera LCD panel for about 30 quid (I bought a Sony A7S one on eBay once).

It's about the same size and weight of that mirror

Now... imagine we take the LCD out of the camera and extend the wire. Put it on the end of that rod. There you have it, the perfect REAL articulated screen!!

would you not void the warranty on your camera if you did that ? Not that i  have an issue with hacking a camera  but i tend to wait till the warranty period is over, i would also imagine the resale value might take a dive as well if it wasn't a reversible hack.

[MattH]

On 9/19/2018 at 6:04 PM, matthere said:

I have recently been thinking of creating a periscope type thing with two mirrors.. One directly facing the screen to reflect the view upwards, then the other above it to direct the view forward.. solves the reversing problem.

?

 

I would love to see a video were you film yourself painstakingly constructing this in a workshop and then film your reaction testing it the first time,  but I'll tell you now: not only will that fail to flip the view horizontally the right way but it will flip the image upside down! Ha Ha!     Draw another arrow next to the blue one and see what happens.

Normal periscopes avoid this because they dont flip the direction the light is going in.

In order to do what you are trying to do you would have to lie the contraption flat on the table so that the flip only happened horizontally, but then it would be dificult to see.

Probably easier to just deal with the filp.

On 9/19/2018 at 2:40 PM, IronFilm said:

Reversed could mean a real mind fuck for when you're trying to frame yourself and talk at the same time!

 

I would have thought it would be easier seeing yourself as a mirror image because we are well used to seeing ourselves in the mirror.

[matthere]

8 minutes ago, MattH said:

Probably easier to just deal with the filp.

You might be right, but the device was just to help with framing, something I often do with the image upside down.. so no problem there.