Magic ViewFinder Application

A free application for iPhones and Android phones to precisely see the field of view for your next shot, without the camera in your hands, right where you are standing.

What it is:

What it isn’t:

  • not an external monitor or viewfinder for your camera
  • not a high-end quality camera app for your best performance

 

Main features:

  • available for ARRI, RED, Blackmagicdesign, Sony, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic Lumix, Olympus cameras
  • various aspects of frame guides
  • support for anamorphic lenses, optical adapters (“boosters”)
  • support for LUTs (built-in and imported)
  • innovative DOF calculator
  • reference mode (compares your settings vs other camera)

Magic ViewFinder Demo for iOS

Magic ViewFinder Demo for Android

Calibrating your Android device

So you will need to calibrate the camera in your Android device if:

1. You bought a wide lens adapter for your camera, something looking like one of these:

2. Or you want to make sure that the Magic ViewFinder app has the most precise data about your built-in camera.

Calibration is a very simple process that will take 3 minutes. So do it, and it will be good for you.

1. Place your Android smartphone or tablet vertically on a flat surface, the floor or a table. The camera should be aimed horizontally, not down or up. I usually just squeeze my smartphone in between heavy books.

Placing the phone

2. Launch your standard Camera app in the device and make sure it is producing the image in 16:9 full screen ratio, not 4:3. (Also, if your Camera app has zooming function, zoom out as wide as you can).

Select the HD (16:9) mode

3. Now place 2 objects on the surface in front of the camera so that they come close to the left and right edge of the frame on the device screen respectively.

Two objects ‘touching’ the side edges of the frame

4. Measure the distances between them, and also between the lens of the built-in camera and each of the objects (you get three values). You are almost done.

5. Switch to Magic ViewFinder app, go to Menu > Calibrate device > Calibration Guide. After 2 slides with explanation about the calibration process, you will get to the page where you must enter the measured distances. The page pretty obviously tells you to do that. Having entered the distances (in centimeters or inches), press Calculate the angle. Done! You can see the angle in degrees now. Press Set.

Enter the distances and press Calculate

Now Magic ViewFinder will keep this angle value until you decide to change it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAQ Magic ViewFinder App — Android

Q: I have an Ultra Wide camera in my smartphone but the app still uses just Wide Camera. How can I go Ultra Wide?

The app is capable of manual selection of the numerous cameras onboard.
If you haven’t already you can make the selection button visible by going to:

Menu > Settings    — and enable “Icon to switch front and back cameras”

You will have an icon (camera-like) on the screen. Press the icon to switch cameras. Please note that you may need to calibrate (Calibrate menu option) the wide camera, if you notice some error in the field view.

 

Q: I have only a couple of primes that I use. How can I setup the app for this?

You edit the Rotation Wheel to contain only the primes you have (by pressing + or – within the yellow pointer-triangle).

If you have different sets of primes you can easily switch between the Packages by a long-press on the menu icon (but be sure you have enabled the Packages feature in the Settings menu).