With the dark nights still here and absolute garbage on the telly, I find myself either on my phone or laptop each evening. Usually its ebay searching for elusive bargains...then youtube to while away the hours.

I saw a chap holding a canon dslr portrait style with the flippy screen folded out 90 degrees and the camera held at waist level. He even had 1:1 aspect ratio selected. Needless I went straight upstairs and tried the same on the 70d. Worked great and harked back to my college years wandering around with my Rollei 2.8F (still have it).

I had never considered framing like this, just wondered if any of you lot had been aware of this too. In my defence, I've only had the flippy screen cameras 7-8mths. But it feels great. I also intend to try sticking with the 1:1 aspect too. I now regret selling the 200d, its small size would have been perfect.

 

It's been around quite a long time in digital terms. The original Nikon Coolpixes could be used that way and I still have my 990, bought in 2001 with a couple of add on lenses...



Sony brought out what's still one of the better implementations of the idea in the DSC-R1. The whole top of the viewfinder bulge could be turned over to reveal a small but still very usable screen that turned the camera into something akin to a Hasselblad in terms of usage...

 

That’s about the only way I’ve used the rear LCD on my mirrorless. I’ll use a right-angle finder on my Canon’s when using a tripod. Nothing comes close to a waist-level finder on a medium format film camera. I suppose you’d need a mains power supply to get that resolution on an LCD screen. I had a look at the first Fuji G series with the tilting viewfinder and it didn’t impress.

 

There were two problems I found with these, difficulty in hand-holding the camera level and when I wanted to use the Mamiya 645 in portrait orientation. At least the Yashicamat 124G I owned for a very short time was a square format that could be cropped later so the second was not so much of a problem with the Yashica.

 

Unfortunately the Nikon 1J5 screen can't be articulated horizontally, only about the horizontal axis. Using it to frame portrait shots might actually be useful.

 

As a long time user of both Hasselblad and Rolleiflex cameras I'd say that the tilting screens on my current digital cameras are at least as good; even that on the tiny Sony HX90...

 

Sadly I don’t yet own a camera with an articulated screen. The key reason I’d like one is for composing low-level macro shots. Using it as a waist-level finder would be more convenient (and less messy) than dropping onto one knee as I do now. I have used the screen when holding the camera high over people or fences, and articulation would help then. But I don’t see the screen very clearly without glasses; putting them on for waist-level shots would be more trouble than kneeling and using the viewfinder. (The glasses I already carry in my camera bag wouldn’t help anyway; they’re the strongest I could find in Poundland, for checking images on the screen in as much detail as is practical in the field).

Chris

 

I quite agree Andrew. I had one of these Sony cameras about ten years ago. Every time I looked down at the screen my old Hasselblad came into my mind.