Greg,

I can help out here as I have had first, a Minolta then the Canon and lastly the Seagull. The Minolta is definitely the sharpest among the lot and even with the 2X (or was it 2.5X) enabled, the optical quality of the finder stood up fine. I cant say so for the Canon, at normal mag rate it is fine but the Minolta is distinctly clearer. For the higher mag rate, the Canon is pretty crap and I can imagine getting a headache if used extensively.

The Seagull I had was a first generation and was total junk. There was no way the elements were aligned properly as I could never get sharp focus and yes, that was at the normal mag rate. Save the money and try out the Minolta or at least get the Canon.

IIRC, the Minolta did fit my Canon DSLRs fine.

Cheers

Weehan

Hoodloupe held on by Cinema Strap (as shown in Chris Barcellos' link) looks like a very practical way to turn LCD screen into a viewfinder. What are the downsides, apart from $100?

Hopefully none. Mine should arrive Friday...

I hold my Hoodloup on by glueing it to the frame of the LCD shade I bought recently off eBay. It clips on to the eyepiece at the top and holds at the bottom with a thin strip of sticky back hook and loop tape. Works great even if it takes a little practice to 'get your eye in'.

Just today I received my Cine City shoulder mount and Follow Focus. Solidly built if not particularly fancy, and works pretty well. After careful adjustment, even the follow focus is quite good. Mind you, I've nothing to compare it to since I've never used an expensive one…

I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow.

First impressions, glad I saved the $1400 on the RedRock Field kit. Hopefully I'll still be saying that in a few week's time…

Avey

Here's the set up. This is the Cince City shoulder mount and Follow Focus sat on top of a lightweight tripod (too lightweight for this use I think, I would use the heavyweight tripod usually)

I have attached a counter weight from my small jib onto the back which helps with balance both on the tripod and the shoulder. The Hoodloup is glued to the LCD shade's frame (after taking off the shade flaps) and clipped to the eyepiece at the top, held at the bottom with small strip of velcro. The Hoodloup is in a fairly good position for the tripod mounted filming, just by resting the cheek on the nearest bar, but it need offsetting for shoulder work so that it is nearer the eye. I'll have a think about how best to do that.

Using the Rode Stereo Video Mic sat on top which always works quite well for me. You have to be fairly near the subject though.

Thanks for those pics of your setup Wayne.

I have one question though, is it still possible to easily look through the Hoodloupe given that the rails are directly beneath it?

It is on the tripod but not as easy when you're shoulder mounted. I need to offset it a bit. Not sure how to do it, But Ill think of something.

I could just push the rods through the front or at least the nearest one (left) or cut them short and do without the weight on the back.

Steven, I'm curious - you purchased the Genus Standard Adapter Bars System + Manfrotto 357 Quick Release Adapter Plate.

Why didn't you just purchase the Genus Advanced Adapter Plate??? It looks like the Genus Advance is the same as the Genus Standard + Manfrotto 357.

Again, just curious.

I bought Standard adapter bars for my EX1 before Genus introduced "advanced" bars... Standard bars came in a Kit with "old" matte box for really great price... I am about to get "new" adapter bars, too. I will post feed back in due time...

Steven,

Quick question, does the RRS L bracket you use displace the horizontal alignment of the tripod hole? From the pictures it seems to move it slightly to the right.

I know this is not an issue with Genus adaptor bars as they have horizontal alignment, but on other rigs this can be a problem so it would be good to know.

As you know I have the advanced adaptor bars, a word of caution. They work great with non extending lenses like the Nikon 17-35, 28-70 and 80-200 where you can fix the mattebox to the rails and give extra rigidity. On shorter lenses which move in and out there can be issues especially if you are using a follow focus. For these lenses I find the original adaptor bars that you have better.

Dan

Thanks for the warning -- and the suggestion!