By site editor Dan Chung:
The Panasonic GH4 has been incredibly popular with shooters looking for a discreet camera with 4K capabilities and a good choice of lenses. The upcoming V-log profile and the launch of the Metabones 0.64x XL Speedbooster for the camera have made it even more appealing.
One area where the camera disappoints though is the eyecup. When using the internal electronic viewfinder it can be very hard to see in bright conditions because the standard eyepiece doesn’t seal at all well against your eye socket. It also isn’t particularly comfortable when jammed to your face for long periods. In the past I have used a Chinese made eyepiece which blocked the light out well, but wasn’t the greatest fit and had a habit of falling off. It was also made of rather smelly rubber which wasn’t too pleasant.
Enter the new G-cup for Miller & Schneider. This looks to be a much better solution that should block out almost all stray light. It is designed by filmmakers Andrew Alden Miller and Thomas Schneider, who were behind the popular C-Cup Kickstarter eyecup that works with the Canon C100. Not only does it block out light, it also provides a comfortable third point of contact when you are handholding the camera.
The G-cup is available online for $34.95 plus shipping from the Miller & Schneider webstore.
Andrew told me that there has been demand for a similar eyecup for the Sony a7 series as well. This is certainly something that I would like to see and I was pleased to hear that it is in the works. There is no date as yet but hopefully it won’t be too long.
This from Andrew Alden Miller:
“During the C-Cup Kickstarter campaign, before the C-Cup was complete or the GH4 was released, I received a request to look into creating an eyecup for that camera. More followed, usually from people who’d stumbled onto the C-Cup project and wanted something similar for the GH4. The C-Cup was intended to be a one-off project, but once it became clear that an eyecup for the GH4 was desired by the market, my partner Thomas Schneider and I decided to form a company and get to work.
The G-Cup project came with the same goals as the C-Cup: we wanted to it be simple (read: inexpensive), to block out light, and to provide a comfortable third point of contact. We think this is a winning formula for camera operators who do handheld shooting. It is particularly effective with the new mirrorless cameras because they have excellent EVFs. With the G-Cup we’ve nailed it, at least for my face, and I’m looking forward to hearing feedback from users.”
