PressPhotosUK Star Rating Not For Me

To be honest, I had forgotten that I had asked for this for a review, so I was a little surprised when it arrived, whilst I was out on a job. Fortunately the "missus" was home and signed for it. "First impressions last:" they say, but for convenience will do them first, wow!! What a big box, and not knowing what was in it I was surprised to find that it was mainly foam packing chips. Having retrieved the Zigview I set about opening the box. Is it just me or is everyone reminded of the Spice Girls record with the lines "I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zigaview ar."

  It is, it's just me isn't it, thanks for that, make me feel bad why don't you, you could have said yes just to be nice! Supplied with the Zigview R was a number of plastic bags including a selection of different eyepieces (for different camera models but no particularly clearly labeled), a lead to connect the unit to the camera, a mains charger a bag of 8 screws, a screwdriver and an instruction book and a quick reference guide.

Switching the unit on I was quite surprised at the clarity of the display. It appears to be a fixed focus lens at the front and anything from about 20cm to 1 metre appears sharp (most camera viewfinders are set up for an effective viewing distance of 1 metre, so that kind of made sense.

Fit the viewfinder to the eyepiece on your camera and it is ideal for doing low level photographs, twist the viewfinder through 180° and it is great for shooting over the heads of crowds. The first disappointment was that the lead is a standard 2.5mm jack lead which is next to useless for any modern digital camera that I am aware of.

I will contact the importers (Introphoto in Maidenhead) tomorrow and see if there are alternative leads available for Canon EOS1 and Nikon D series Digital SLRs. As the main reason for my interest in this product is the intervalometer and the ability to sense motion and trigger the shutter, meaning that a camera could be set up on a job (ie on a Tripod in the back of the car) and left to automatically trigger in the event of any movement.

However without the appropriate lead it is impossible for the unit to trip the shutter.

A quick look at the functionality makes this a most excellent toy for the camera bag, as it provides the option for time lapse photography, remote release if it detects a movement, extended "bulb" settings (probably not that practical for digital photography) and timed shutter release.

Initial reaction is that the build quality of the unit is more than adequate for most uses, the screen can be used as a low level viewfinder and a quick twist and it is ideal for when you have to shoot over the tops of a crowds head. It is compact enough to keep in ones pocket until required and then simply slipped on the in place of the standard eye piece.

A description of the unit: on the left hand side of the unit are two controls, the on/off switch and a buttonSetting up the unit for initial use is a little fiddly as it involved zooming and panning to ensure that the whole screen can be viewed, except that it can't (on an EOS1d) as the screen appears to have slightly different ratios to the standard 1:1.5 (or 2:3 which ever you prefer).

 

Joystick Control Moving the Joystick to the Right -enters the set up menu which his then navigated by the joy stickMoving the joystick towards or away from the camera activates the Zoom Option from 33 to 200% which if there is any criticsm is a little slow. Having set up and configured the electronic viewfinder to suit the camera you are using, and obtained the appropriate connecting lead it is now time to try the viewfinder out.

I love this job, everytime I get a piece of kit to evaluate, I have go and buy another bit of equipment to make it work, the tripod that I have is fooking huge (a Manfrotto Triaut 058 with a 229 head) so I will have to pick up something smaller (I am not sure where my Benbo went!) so I will need to pick up something that I can use in the car. To enter the mode select menu, which enables you to choose between Digital Viewfinder, Interval Shot (and interval shot advanced), Bulb Shot, Timer shot and Motion Detection shot, you push the joystick too the left and hold it there. The screen shot below shows the mode select menu. The following screen shot shows the Motion Detection screen which is divided into 9 sections, when ever the Zigview detects a change in brightness in any one section it will trigger the shutter release on the camera. THere are a variety of user adjustable parameters that are a little involved to go into here, however they cover a wide range of options including defining the wake time for you camera (if you have the auto sleep function enabled), AF and Exposure set duration (ie how long it takes the camera to AF and set the exposure) number of exposures and then a waiting delay to allow for images to be written and then motion detection resume.

As you can see from the screen capture below that the Motion detection screen is a little involved, but enables to set the maximum number of frames (in this case 100) thresholds, etc. Click on the image above to see a more detailed explanation of the different functions.Again at first glance it seems a little complex however when you take a little time to work it out (and you do have to work some of it out as the reference guide is a little vague.

 

CONCLUSION

Ok having tried the Digital Viewfinder out it seems that the refresh rate is far to slow to be of any real use the screen disappears in to a wash of colour that is impossible to decipher, which when moving with the press pack after someone who doesn't want their picture taken it will prove impossible, you are rather better off just holding your camera over your head and taking pot shots on a wide angle in the general direction of the target.

I shall try it later this week with the motion detector and see if there is any mileage with that element of it, but initial thoughts are that this will not cut the mustard for me, however if you have mobility problems and like to shoot at very low angles (at things that do not move too fast) then this could be right up your alley.