Right angle viewer for DSLR

[bojan]

Since the right angle viewer is just a small telescope with mirror (for right angle), I decided to build one from spare tubes, lenses, mirrors and eyepieces that accumulated over the time in my drawers and boxes.. ...
First experiments prove that it is possible to avoid paying big $ for such a simple thing in principle.
It seems that I will end up with a viewer, that has 5~7x magnification. It will be larger than the one from ebay (or from camera store) but better.. it seems it will be useful for focusing as well, provided the position of the mirror in my DSLR is accurate enough....
I will post the pics as soon as the whole thing is put together.... maybe tonight...

[Sharnbrook (Mike)]

I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I have just bought one from eBay, (1 and 2.5x) with which I am quite happy, but there is a lot of satisfaction to be had by cobbling up something out of odds and sods lying around the house.

[Dennis]

Hi Bojan

Thanks for the very informative post - I very much look forward to your prototype. Maybe you could produce a small batch for sale on IIS? I would be very interested in a suitable unit for my Pentax *ist DS DSLR.

Cheers

Dennis

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ditto to Dennis.

[joshman (Josh)]

oh yeah, i would be most interested in seeing what you come up with, and then making my own based upon your design!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I hope you are using a 'First Surface' mirror.
I'd hate to see the abberations from a normal mirror.

[bojan]

Here it is..
Ingredients:
- plastic part from rubber eyecup (this attaches to Canon eyepiece),
- 30mm lens from old binos, eyepiece (~12mm FL) from another binos,
- tube from 3x barlow (I obtained it from Bintel for free, it used to be cheap chinese plastic barlow, but the tube is quite useful, I already used 1/14" eyepiece metallized tube for my own eyepiece, and I threw away the glass lens).
All the parts above are put together into a small telescope, ~8x30.

- mirror (yes, it is a proper one, "first surface") mounted in a cell I obtained from somewhere long time ago. Right angle prism would be also OK.
- plastic 1 1/4" tubing for electricals, from Bunnings, as adapter for eyecup and eyepiece.

This is what it will look like when properly put together...
The image in this viewer is mirrored, but this is not a problem.
To have a proper (not mirrored) image, roof prism or two mirrors should be used, but this just adds to overall weight, which is now not the problem I believe, since all is plastic (except opticals).

The small cheap finder and mirror could have been used here, but I did not have it at hand....

Will test this tonight or over weekend and will report the results....

[bojan]

This is what I came up with...

[xelasnave]

You have given me an idea...great work.
alex

[bojan]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

You have given me an idea...great work.
alex

That was the exact purpose of my post.. to give people ideas

[bojan]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hi Bojan

Thanks for the very informative post - I very much look forward to your prototype. Maybe you could produce a small batch for sale on IIS? I would be very interested in a suitable unit for my Pentax *ist DS DSLR.

Cheers

Dennis

Hi Dennis, Paul,
I was considering this idea... the main problem is supply for lenses (objective and eyepiece). If I come up with suitable parts supply (both cost-wise and otherwise), I can try something...
Bojan

[iceman (Mike)]

Very interesting, Bojan! I think it would make a great how-to article.

I think there'd also be interest in custom-made ones, for the non-handyman people like me

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Excellent post Bojan. I was considering an eBay purchase of one of these but the price is still quite high for a good one - and these will only give 2.5x mag at the EP. I then saw the one for sale here and promptly missed it.

Thanks for the thought - I'll be making one tonight!

Cheers
Chris

[bojan]

Hi guys, how did your versions of this little project go?
I added a final touch to mine:
On the attached picture the two support bars for the viewer are visible (they are touching the camera lower part of the screen with two soft pads and hold the viewer in fixed position so the whole thing is now much more stable) and I placed the lens closer to the eyepiece, so I have a shorter tube.

[ving (David)]

very very sweet!