right angle view finders for D70
I have a DR-6. It is an impressive piece of optics. One caveat: it cannot be easily used with an external flash directly attached to the camera hot shoe for practical reasons (nothing prevents from attaching both to the camera. It is just that properly looking down the viewfinder with the flash present on the camera is close to impossible).
Before buying this accessory, I spotted that other - and a tad cheaper - Nikon right angle viewfinders would fit the D70 using a small plastic adapter called a 2370. This thingy, actually:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&Q=&b=2&shs=2370&ci=1&ac=&Submit.x=12&Submit.y=11
On one side there is a circular thread where one can attach accessories like a DG-2, DR-5, etc. on the other side a thread that fits the rectangular edge around the D70 viewfinder.
I asked Thom Hogan about this solution and his reply was that this setup does not work in practice: the plastic adapter is too flimsy to properly support the right angle viewer (they're a little heavier that one would suspect). This is by the way consistent with Nikon's recommandations.
Trusting Thom's experience, this eliminated the choice of DR-5 and others. They are cheaper than the DR-6, but the savings are not worth it, IMO.
About 3rd-party right angle viewfinders. The other that I've looked at - I remember distinctly that Contax makes one for Nikon SLRs which is a little cheaper than the DR-6, but I can't remember having considered the Minolta's - are all built for the circular thread (except for Canon's, see further). Therefore they suffer from the same issue than using a DR-5. It would have been cool to own something made by Contax, though ...
I also considered the Canon Angle Finder C. It has a higher magnification than the DR-6, and those who have commented on it says that it is also a great piece of optics. From the pictures that I have seen, it looks like it attaches to the D70 via a set of brackets, and I was not sure if the device can be easily attached and quickly removed (someone who owns it can confirm or correct me on that), which is something that matters for what I do. I have also had concerns that the attachement would not work with other Nikon bodies. The DR-6 works with the D100 and the D70. I infer that there is a good chance that it will work both with the D70 ot D100's successors if I ever decide to upgrade my D70. I'd be quite annoyed if I had to buy this accessory all over again in that case. These are the reasons why I did not buy the Canon right angle view finder.
That's all ! Hope it is of some usefullness.
Thierry
