Best Viewfinder Accessory for Low Level Shots

[Lancashire Lad]

I'm keen on photographing fungi, some of the best examples of which have a tendency to grow in the boggiest/gooeyest patches of leaflitter at this time of year.

I've been using a Fujipix S9600, which has the great facility of an adjustable lcd screen, which can be angled upwards, thus avoiding the need to get down & dirty in the goo.

For better image quality, I recently upgraded to a Nikon D80 with 60mm Macro lens, a combination which more than meets my requirements.

However, with the Nikon, my problem is in being able to properly frame & focus the subject at almost ground level, and at the same time avoid getting plastered in smelly woodland goo.

I can only assume that the likes of Nikon & Canon regard adjustable lcd's as gimmicks as they have never incorporated them. But I have had literally hundreds of comments from SLR users bemoaning the fact that their expensive cameras don't have what the S9600 has.

I usually carry a large sheet of visqueen to kneel / lie on, but that gets full of wet goo, which is then a problem when trying to fold it away into pocket/bag.

I've toyed with the idea of getting a Nikon DR6 angle finder, but even this would require kneeling down at best.

Just been made aware of a gadget named "Zigview S2B" which is attachable to the SLR's eyepiece, but has a remote lcd screen on the end of a lead (which can be anything up to 10m in length).

This could be a suitable option for what I'm after - provided it does everything that the blurb says it will.

It costs about the same as the Nikon angle finder, so it would definitely be an either-or. I'm not an equipment fetishist, so wouldn't want to spend that kind of money without being pretty certain of getting good usage from it.

Does anyone on WAB have any knowledge of, or who uses this device, who can give a steer on whether it would be any good.

Any comments gratefully received.
Regards
Mike.

[Lancashire Lad]

PS:

I'm thinking more about aesthetically pleasing shots here, rather than the occasions where you would just uproot the fungi for record shot purposes.

Regards
Mike.

[pressld2]

I bought one of the original Zigviews (without the screen on a lead) a couple of years ago but only used it once. I bought it to be able to take photos at rock concerts over the heads of the crowd - i.e. angling it down rather than up. I used it for Roger Waters and The Who in Hyde Park 2006 and it was reasonably useful. When I dug it out to take to Hyde Park in 2007 (Peter Gabriel and Crowded House) I found that the adapter that connects to the camera viewfinder had been broken while it was in my camera bag. I attempted to super-glue it back together but without much success. I bought a couple of spare adapters as they're pretty cheap but by the time Hyde Park 2008 (Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton) rolled around I had bought my D300 which has live view so I didn't need the Zigview.

I've never even considered using it for fungi as I'm quite happy to roll about in the mud - must be the 8-year-old boy that still lurks inside me!

Dave P.

[wildlifesnapper]

Originally Posted by pressld2

I've never even considered using it for fungi as I'm quite happy to roll about in the mud - must be the 8-year-old boy that still lurks inside me!

Dave P.

Ah! So Dave, that's why you kept getting left behind at clumber


Mike, I use a right-angled finder.

neil