Camcorder, record without looking...

[Sdashiki]

I have had this idea for a long while in my head, just never the means to do it.

I want to use my camcorder to take shots from angles that are impossible to be able to see thru the lens with either the fold out LCD or the viewfinder, but not impossible to hold awkwardly with my hands etc.

So why cant I have some sort of "eyepiece" that is just like the camcorders viewfinder, but attached to glasses or a head band so I can move the camera around and see (with one eye) what is being recorded.

I think this is a very simple thing to do if I can only get my hands on a few viewfinder screens from old/abused/broken camcorders...OR figure out what they are called to so I can google to buy one or something.

its very hard to find tiny tiny screens like what you find inside a viewfinder, but i think this project would be kinda cool.

 

[pdpfilms]

I have had this idea for a long while in my head, just never the means to do it.

I want to use my camcorder to take shots from angles that are impossible to be able to see thru the lens with either the fold out LCD or the viewfinder, but not impossible to hold awkwardly with my hands etc.

So why cant I have some sort of "eyepiece" that is just like the camcorders viewfinder, but attached to glasses or a head band so I can move the camera around and see (with one eye) what is being recorded.

I think this is a very simple thing to do if I can only get my hands on a few viewfinder screens from old/abused/broken camcorders...OR figure out what they are called to so I can google to buy one or something.

its very hard to find tiny tiny screens like what you find inside a viewfinder, but i think this project would be kinda cool.

You could use one of those glasses-type viewfinders... I see them often on the macrumors frontpage. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[LethalWolfe]

http://Sony glasstron


Lethal

 

[Sdashiki]

way more than I am looking for.

this isnt supposed to be "professional" just a way to keep my eyes away from the LCD and Viewfinder..

can be ductaped together for all I care!

 

[ITASOR]

You can get a little portable LCD or something with RCA inputs and then hook your camera up. I don't really understand the purpose though, if the camera is pointing at something, how can you not look at the built in LCD?

 

[OutThere]

On all of the camcorders I've used I've been able to adjust the screen to point in pretty much any direction... usually they flip over and can clip back into the camera so that they face directly out from the camera, and you only have to be on the side of the camera with the LCD to be able to see it.

 

[Sdashiki]

Imagine holding your camcorder above you head arms outstretched.

how can you look thru the viewfinder? You cant.

yes I could flip out the LCD and point it down, but what about glare? I wont be able to see it well, nor would I be able to see where I am going.

Imagine you yanked the little viewfinder eyepiece (the 3 or 4 inch long penis thing with the rubber end for your eyeball) off an old camcorder and hooked it up to the video out of your current camcorder.

Ductape the eyepiece to your left eye and bam, you can see without glare right thru the lens of the camcorder and still walk without bumping into stuff.

I dont want to buy something so much as build one. I mean a piece of crap VHS camcorder would work, all I need is the tiny screen inside the viewfinder.

 

[iEdd]

the 3 or 4 inch long penis thing...

Makes me wonder what you're filming
You could take an old viewfinder, but you'd need to know the pinouts of the lcd, power it somehow and use composite video on the camera to hook it up.

 

[robx2]

You're not gonna get a good shot anyway holding your arms outstretched above your head anyway, so why bother?

Just lift it up and give it the old "Hail Mary". Might get something you like.

Or use mirrors and a cardboard tube and make a periscope.