8 replies to this topic

[rob spence]

Hi
does anyone know if the later eyepieces...XTR etc. have zoomable eyepieces for critical focussing?
I'm talking about a standard length eyepiece.

[Brian Drysdale]

No, just extremely good viewfinders, you can more or less judge how sharp each of your lenses is compared to the others with an Aaton viewfinder.

[rob spence]

Thanks, I'm experimenting with my LTR eyepiece to make it more 'accessible' to the eye. I've taken the front of the eyepiece off ie the bit that
holds the closable light trap and the view of the ground glass is amazingly better. I can easily see all of it. So I'm going to
widen the hole in the eyepiece and adapt the light trap to suit...hopefully this will improve vision.
Presumably the XTR has this already built-in...or is it a totally different optic?

[Brian Drysdale]

I had the aperture for your eye enlarged on my LTR eyepiece, this meant you could view the Super 16 ground glass without having to scan it with your eye. I also had a new larger internal light trap flap made to cover the larger hole.

I believe there is a wider view optic for the XTR, for Super 16. From memory I had this element fitted to my LTR viewfinder, replacing the older version. You can check with an Aaton dealer. There were so many mods done to the camera at the time, I've forgotten some of the details.

[rob spence]

Thanks brian...nice to know it's possible.

[Tim Carroll]

Thanks brian...nice to know it's possible.

Rob,

I tried a similar thing with my LTR and did not have the same experience as Brian. Opening the eyepiece did not help me see the whole Super 16 frame, without having to move my eye back and forth. On a later XTR I owned (not a Prod or Plus) I was able to set up the eyepiece by creating a slight extension that fit in the light path between the fibre optics screen and the eyepiece. That worked pretty well, but was only doable on the XTR eyepiece assembly, not the LTR.

Best,
-Tim

[Brian Drysdale]

I tried a similar thing with my LTR and did not have the same experience as Brian. Opening the eyepiece did not help me see the whole Super 16 frame, without having to move my eye back and forth.

Yes, perhaps more a question of degree, on my LTR you can't see all the corners without a scan, but you can just about see the Super 16 frame marking on either side without scanning. I remember the enlargement being a big improvement over the standard LTR eyepiece aperture which involved a very deliberate scanning action, but it's not the same as an XTR Prod.

Edited by Brian Drysdale, 05 December 2011 - 11:33 AM.

[rob spence]

Well at least there will be an improvement...I must get hold of an XTR prod for a little test too to see the difference.

[Brian Drysdale]

Well at least there will be an improvement...I must get hold of an XTR prod for a little test too to see the difference.

The LTR's Viewfinder was always like sitting in the front row of the cinema compared to other viewfinders, that becomes a problem with the wider aspect ratio of Super 16.