Tricks of the Trade

---

Richard Shore, ASC

An emergency viewfinder can be constructed of the simplest materials as follows:

Cut a piece of cardboard, preferably black, to form a rectangle about 5 inches square. In the center cut a window the size of the shooting area of a 35mm frame.

The resultant aperture, when held, for example, 25mm from your eye, will show the coverage of that focal length lens, and when held at 100mm will show the coverage for that lens, etc. The trick is to hold the window at the exact distance for an accurate view. This works with other film sizes as well.