Viewfinders - Text 1
Filmmakers have long dreamt of a truly free, which is to say mobile, camera. The creation of more portable camera designs, as well as of a number of accessories (tripod heads, dollies, cranes, the Steadicam) capable of complex movements was, of course, central to this quest. But this was only half of the story. Just as essential was the development of viewfinders which would enable the camera operator to carefully monitor the image while shooting.
The viewfinder is the device which enables the camera operator to carefully focus and frame the image. Modern 35 mm cameras are typically fitted with reflex viewfinders that can direct the image captured by the lens used for cinematography towards the eyepiece while the camera is rolling. These reflex viewfinders were, however, introduced relatively late in the history of the cameras used for studio shoots. In the early decades of cinema, the absence of reflex viewfinders, as well as the relative scarcity of devices enabling camera movements, led most filmmakers to rely primarily on static shots produced with a camera perched atop a tripod. Most cameras were fitted with some sort of non-reflex or auxiliary viewfinder, but visual documentation of film shoots attests to the fact that most early cinematographers simply stood by the side of the camera without looking into it as they filmed.