Right Angle View Finder For Nikon

ianbarber

ianbarber

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Ian
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I keep thinking about a right angled view finder for my Nikon D3s and was wondering if anyone has any experience using them.

I see a Seagull brand on eBay for about £30 and the Nikon one is about £180. The Nikon d3s has a round viewfinder that screws in and I am not sure how fiddly attaching the right angled viewfinder would be.
 
I've got a nikon one dr-5 or dr-6 I can't remember but I love it! It's so handy
 
Not on my d600 no it just clips on like the eye piece! I'm not sure on the d3! Does eyepiece screw on? If so it will do the same
 
I use mine when shooting kids! And in studio! It's better than dragging ya belly on the floor
 
I have a right angle adaptor (proper Nikon DR-3) and it screws in to the D700's eyepiece very easily. Unfortunately it doesn't fit the D750 but that has a flip out rear screen so the RAF isn't needed.
Might be an ad in classifieds later... ;)
 
I looked at the DR-6 - but the cost of it was more than what I wanted to spend and went with the seagull in the end. The build quality is fine - is on par with your usual 3rd party products like meike, neewer etc - however it does the job fine. I only use mine for occasional use, so didn't want to spend too much.
 
Having used the Dr-5, DR-6 and the seagull right angle view finders I'm well aware of the pros and cons of them. The problem is there are two different viewfinder types on Nikons, the rectangular and the round, and this is where some work better than others as there is massive difference in their fitting.

rectangular viewfinders

For cameras like the d7100, d600, d750 etc there is not too much between the dr-6 and the seagull. The dr-6 slips on and off easily and is very to easy as it takes seconds to fit. The seagull has to use an adapter designed to fit the rectangular viewfinder and it works quite well. If the adapter is lost it won't fit, they are small and could be lost easily. The dr-6 is better quality build and slides straight on without adapters, but then it costs more.

Round viewfinders

Cameras like the d700, d800 use the dr-5 and the seagull if you purchase the extra 22mm round adapter. Of the two the dr-5 is much easier to use, you screw in the small adapter then the dr-5 onto that (note you can have the adapter attached to the dr-5 then screw both in together at once- it's much faster). To straighten the dr-5 you press the two side buttons in until it's where you want it and then it's locked in place. The seagull has a round adapter that is screwed onto the camera. There is a screwing nut on this that is used to hold the slotted adapter straight. The seagull adapter slides into the slot adapter part. The locking nut part is fiddly to get the slot straight. Also the round adapter on both the dr-5 and seagull are roughly the same and both are difficult to unscrew from the camera. Nikon supply a small spanner adapter with the dr-5 to unscrew it, seagull don't. My friend had to use a pair of pliers to get the seagull adapter off a d800, not something that's nice to do.

My preference is the dr-5 unless cost is an issue the seagull would be ok for rectangular viewfinders. The dr-5 is better for round viewfinders as it's much easier to use and faster to remove.
 
I bought both of the nikons second hand as prices are roughly £110, brand new it's a lot of money for what it is is. Even second hand it's a lot but I use it quite often, I used it water voles the last two year and it was so much easier. For some images I had the tripod in knee high water with the camera/lens only an inch or so above the water level, if I hadn't had a right angle viewfinder there would have been no way of looking through the viewfinder to compose the image. I should really sell the dr-6 as I don't have a camera that fits it.
 
ianbarber said:
I use the Nikon DK-19 Eyepiece Cup on my d3s so i am guessing from your detailed description, I would need to remove it. I think its pretty clear that the DR-5 is the one to go for, suppose i just need to swallow the price and get on with it
Click to expand...
Yes the viewfinder has to be unscrewed and the dr-5 goes into that. I did purchase the seagull to use with the d800 but ended up selling it to get the dr-5 once I got advice on here.

It would be much easier if nikon produce an adapter for round viewfinders with the positioning side buttons to level it that allowed the dr-6 to slip on and off. But as they don't the dr-5 is the easiest way to do it.
 
I use the Seagull version on my D800E and, as has been said, it screws into the viewfinder. Attachment/detachment is pretty straightforward and the Seagull does all I need at a fraction of the cost of the Nikon alternative. The viewfinder is pretty bright & focusable and seems to be fairly well built, albeit plastic. I think I would buy a Nikon version if I found one s/h at a decent price but the Seagull is doing me proud at the moment.

However, I've recently had to replace the viewfinder housing. The plastic surround (that also houses the v/f curtain) broke at it's weakest point. It only uses one screw to hold it to the body and the hole in the v/f housing cracked and it eventually fell off. I'm pretty careful with my gear but I think it's always likely to happen even if it takes even a mild knock - the r/a v/f acts like a reasonably sized lever. This would be the same for Seagull or Nikon versions.

I'm not sure what the v/f setup is on the D3s - presumably it's a bit more sturdy than a D800 but it's something to keep in mind.

It wasn't the end of the world anyway. A replacement was £29.99+vat direct from Nikon which was a pleasant surprise - I was bracing myself for something approaching £100!

Cheers

Mark
 
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