Lensless-Optical Viewfinder
Hines Lensless Viewfinder
A viewfinder that projects a frame line in the scene without using lenses. Ideal for shooting in bright sunlight where an LC display would be washed out.
 |
 |
A pop-up version for sports cameras.
.
 |
 |
| As you approach the back of the viewfinder, the bright frame appears to be in the scene. The thin frame is close to the eye, and out of focus. | The interior shows the open rim of the concave spherical mirror on the camera’s front wall (right), facing the reticle on the back wall. |
Consumers make judgments about a camera’s quality based on the viewfinder. The Lensless Viewfinder forms a sharp frame line around the scene, to lower the manufacturing cost, and support a higher selling price.
The spherically-curved rim around the front opening, and the rectangular frame on the back wall, are flashed with aluminum to make them reflective. The viewfinder is completed when the camera body is assembled.
 |
 |
| The lensless viewfinder provides all of the advantages of the Albada finder with the near zero cost of an open-hole. | Scene light (blue) passes through the open holes, and illuminates the frame around the back window and is then reflected (red) to the rim of front spherical mirror where it is projected into the scene. |
|
The view through the viewfinder as the photographer moves around. The photographer sees the scene directly through the open holes. The projected frame is locked on the scene. |
Advantages: • Projected frame line shows the area being photographed. • Bright unaltered view of the scene. • No motion parallax between frame and scene. |
Hines Lensless Viewfinder:
Light from the scene passes directly through the front opening of the finder to illuminate the rectangular frame on the back wall. The photographer sees the frame line reflected in the rim of the concave mirror around the front window.
On first using the Hines viewfinder, the reaction of most people is surprise to see a bright frame in the scene. It seems like magic.
*Note to optical engineers: Compare the 100% MTF of the scene viewed through the open-hole, to the degraded image of any other viewfinder.
The Hines Lensless Viewfinder is ideal as a camera accessory or for smart phones where the LC display would be washed out in bright sunlight. The lensless VF is shown combined with a smart-phone handle.
 |
Notice washed-out LCD image. |
The Hines Lensless Viewfinder uses reflective optics to project a frame around the scene. Both optical elements are molded as part of the camera body, eliminating the usual viewfinder lenses.
Comments:
“I have to say I always wanted to be someone like you. Your idea is brilliant!”, Dr. Filip Vaison La-Romanie, Texas, May 12, 2023.
“What a marvelous idea.” Lisa Davidson, lithographic printer, July 23, 2017.
“Love it.” Paul Ruben, head of the Kodak Optical Engineering Dept., Rochester, New York, Aug. 13, 2016
“It seems like an utter no-brainer for all of the GoPro models without video panels”. Alisa Salaki, under-water photographer, Georgia, USA, July, 2016
“innovative… Easy to use: giving the same effect as a collimated optical system. The idea seems very clever, low cost, easy to manufacture, it could eventually be a product by itself… as an engineer I like brilliant ideas“. Alphonse Menudier: France, April 2013.
“The principle is so brilliant in its simplicity.” Antony Brown: Photographer, London, England, Sept. 2009.
“The reflective perimeter of the new viewfinder focuses the frame line; the scene, undiminished in size or quality, is viewed through an open hole” in the article “Skip the Lens”, in SPIE Magazine, May 2005.
“I just happened across this…. very slick!; best of luck w/commercializing it.“, Rick Oleson, Industrial Designer, Kentucky, USA, Oct. 2003.
“Not only does it aid the photographer by accurately delineating his field of view, but will be useful to any camera manufacturer who is trying to reduce the cost.” Paul Ruben: Optical engineer, head of Eastman Kodak’s lens design dept., Rochester, New York, Dec. 2000.
“Extremely impressive. If I were working for a camera company, I would be very, very interested. Everyone should be. After seeing the models, I certainly prefer it over any Albada system.” Bill Ewald, Kodak Sr. Optical Engineer, lecturer at the University of Rochester (New York), Sept. 2000.
“… elegantly simple“, “a parallax free viewfinder that is impossible to degrade with finger print smudges“, “I tested it with glasses and it worked fine. Plenty of eye relief“, “… important and novel“… “It has the potential to become a new standard.“ Fred Bushroe: Optical engineer, Tucson, Arizona, April 2, 1999.
“I wish I’d thought of it.” Kodak Apparatus Division engineer. This was just one response in a presentation at Kodak, Dec. 5, 1997.
Hines’ lab notebook #1:
 |
| p. 84 |
Consumers have not expected to find bright-frame viewfinders in single-use cameras. The Hines Lensless Viewfinder provides the projected frame of an Albada finder at less than the cost of the Galilean.
For further information:
• OE Magazine, May, 2005, p. 28
• Photo Imaging News, June 14, 2004, Vol. 21, No. 13, p. 6.
• Photo Marketing Association News, Oct. 2001, Vol. 77, No. 10.
• U.S. Patent 6,122,455 (includes zoom version)
HinesLab is actively seeking licensees to commercialize this technology. This is not a product being offered for sale to end users. Please contact Steve Hines at:
USA
ph. 818-507-5812
email: [email protected]