Summer has kind of arrived and that means packing the Hoodman
loupe in the bag again. This tool is way overpriced at around £70, but it has actually become an essential tool for working in bright conditions. The problem is simple, when you take your picture outdoors and check the preview on the camera's LCD screen you basically are unable to judge meaningful exposure due to glare and washed out contrast. Your camera probably has some kind of auto brightness setting to compensate - but you don't want to enable that if you've already calibrated your camera LCD with your studio monitor (which you should do). You can always try covering the screen with your hand or under your jacket while you turn away from the sun - but I find that still leaves a lot of guesswork, and your histogram is only part of the story. The solution is the HoodLoupe 3. Pop this rubber cup over the LCD and you get a magnified view of the screen in the dark - it's great for checking exposure and for checking focus - like looking at an 6in screen. The Hoodman optics are okay - sharp in the middle but not great round the edges, and there is a fair bit of CA there too, but it doesn't matter. You can of course focus the eyepiece with the diopter. However, the Hoodman is not perfect and daylight can still get in under the edges or through the eyepiece - they should have included an eyecup (not sell it separately) and a softer rubber trim around the base to improve contact. The diopter is easily nudged out of focus too with handling.
Ultimately, the Hoodman 3 means that what I see on the LCD out in the sun, remains exactly what I see back on the studio monitor, removing errors and saving production time. If you're into shooting video on your DSLR - this is also an indispensable tool for using live view with the Hoodman Cinema Strap.
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