focusing, viewfinders, etc

[redrice]

a friend points out to me a problem i might encounter moving from video to super 8: i am short-sighted, astigmatic, and react badly to contact lenses. (and i want to be a film maker... )
in video this is no problem: either i wear my glasses and use the pull out screen, or i adjust the viewfinder image to suit (almost) my eyesight, and the depth of field available takes care of any imprecision that may slip in. but what happens in super 8? i cant use my glasses with a standard viewfinder. so are their cameras with adjustable viewfinders? and are those cameras which also get round the focusing problems pedro mentioned here recently?

i thought i'd narrowed it down to a beaulieu 4800 or a canon 1014, but now it looks like i may have to think again.

TIA for any advice or pointers:

peter

[tom hardwick]

You won't have to think again as all Super8 cameras that I've ever looked at (lots) have had an adjustable viewfinder diopter. Many Japanese people are short sighted and therefore their cameras generally have a good range of adjustment to counteract this.

The depth of field with Super 8 is almost exactly the same as that obtained with 1/3" chipped camcorders (generally analogue Hi8 etc) and not far off that obtained by 1/4" chipped Mini DV cams, so you shouldn't have problems in good light and at moderate to wide focal lengths.

I wear glasses and haven't had a problem using them with my 1014E.

tom.

[pcg]

Ditto for all the Nizos. No problem; all come w/ adjustable diaptors.

/Pat

[#Pedro]

very exactly with Beaulieu. It seems that each mark at the viewfinder adjustment refers to 1 dioptren. My eye is near to -4 dioptren.
Pedro

[redrice]

thanks to all for replying: the sooner i start pounding the streets of brussels in search of a shop where i can actually get my hands on one or two of these machines, the better!

glad to know too that myopia (and it scures) knows no aesthetic or technical boundaries...

peter