One of the major problems with small digital cameras is the LCD display monitor that is used to view the image that you will be taking (the normal optical viewfinder is redundant in digiscoping). The view is very nice in cloudy weather or indoors but almost useless when direct sunlight is hitting it, so a sunshade/monitor hood is advisable.
These come in a couple of styles; The fabric ‘Hoodman’ cover that used to be supplied with some digital cameras is a cheap option, an elastic strap holding it in place over the monitor. The downfall of this design is that when your eye is up to the shade, the monitor is too close for your eye to focus on the image.
A better if more expensive alternative is the Xtend-a-view type of sunshade. This is an alloy box that sits on top of your camera’s monitor via Velcro attachment or just held in place. This device incorporates it’s own lens that magnifies the monitor image x2, not dissimilar to a slide-viewer or loupe. Obviously the lens is corrected to allow your eye to focus on the monitor screen, though the 2x magnification can look slightly ‘bitty’ as the pixels that make up the image are more noticeable. The Xtend-a-view sunshade range is available in the U.K. through EagleEyeOpticZooms of Kent or from Photosolve in North America.
With a little handy-work a similar device to the Xtend-a-view can be fashioned from a small slide-viewer that is available from most photographic stores.
These come in a couple of styles; The fabric ‘Hoodman’ cover that used to be supplied with some digital cameras is a cheap option, an elastic strap holding it in place over the monitor. The downfall of this design is that when your eye is up to the shade, the monitor is too close for your eye to focus on the image.
A better if more expensive alternative is the Xtend-a-view type of sunshade. This is an alloy box that sits on top of your camera’s monitor via Velcro attachment or just held in place. This device incorporates it’s own lens that magnifies the monitor image x2, not dissimilar to a slide-viewer or loupe. Obviously the lens is corrected to allow your eye to focus on the monitor screen, though the 2x magnification can look slightly ‘bitty’ as the pixels that make up the image are more noticeable. The Xtend-a-view sunshade range is available in the U.K. through EagleEyeOpticZooms of Kent or from Photosolve in North America.
With a little handy-work a similar device to the Xtend-a-view can be fashioned from a small slide-viewer that is available from most photographic stores.
