Eyepiece shutter where none built into camera?

I've just ordered a factory refurbished Olympus C-2020Z with a 5 year
extended
warranty, which should give me enough time to gain some experience in IR
and
UV photography with the same camera. However, I've now just read online
that
an eyepiece shutter is quite important for these types of photography, to
keep
out unwanted visible light when using a tripod with a remote or
self-timer.
However, apparently the 2020 doesn't come with an eyepiece shutter.

A piece of black electrician's tape over the view-finder is recommended
as a
stop-gap, but since I plan to use this camera just for UV and IR, I'm not
looking for stop gaps. Someone told me that instead of taping over the
camera's
eyepiece, I should get an eyecup and use tape over that, but that doesn't
really
seem like a solution to me.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks alot.

Dale Bricker

This is one of the pitfalls of declaring all cameras DSLRs and ZLRs
because they are "SLR like".

It causes confusion.. With a *true* DSLR you definitely have to
block the viewfinder on occasion.

A previous discussion determined that my E-10 was not a DSLR or ZLR...yet it
does have and need an eyepiece shutter...so maybe some other cameras use
them too? Or you can let me join your club (Oh...Please...Please...Please!)
But, whatever....your agenda based answer did not apply here...nobody is
calling the 2020 an slr of any sort. Its not anything like.

This is one of the pitfalls of declaring all cameras DSLRs and ZLRs
because they are "SLR like".

It causes confusion.. With a *true* DSLR you definitely have to
block the viewfinder on occasion.

A previous discussion determined that my E-10 was not a DSLR or ZLR...yet it
does have and need an eyepiece shutter...so maybe some other cameras use
them too? Or you can let me join your club (Oh...Please...Please...Please!)
But, whatever....your agenda based answer did not apply here...nobody is
calling the 2020 an slr of any sort. Its not anything like.

I thought I understood cameras pretty well, but what exactly is an
eyepiece "shutter"? I have a number of film SLRs, and none have an
eyepiece shutter. Why is an eyepiece shutter necessary on a digital
SLR?


"Gene Palmiter" wrote in message news:9agrd.3098$_C2.698@trndny01...
This is one of the pitfalls of declaring all cameras DSLRs and ZLRs
because they are "SLR like".

It causes confusion.. With a *true* DSLR you definitely have to
block the viewfinder on occasion.

A previous discussion determined that my E-10 was not a DSLR or ZLR...yet it
does have and need an eyepiece shutter...so maybe some other cameras use
them too? Or you can let me join your club (Oh...Please...Please...Please!)
But, whatever....your agenda based answer did not apply here...nobody is
calling the 2020 an slr of any sort. Its not anything like.

I thought I understood cameras pretty well, but what exactly is an
eyepiece "shutter"? I have a number of film SLRs, and none have an
eyepiece shutter. Why is an eyepiece shutter necessary on a digital
SLR?


"Gene Palmiter" wrote in message news:9agrd.3098$_C2.698@trndny01...
This is one of the pitfalls of declaring all cameras DSLRs and ZLRs
because they are "SLR like".

It causes confusion.. With a *true* DSLR you definitely have to
block the viewfinder on occasion.

A previous discussion determined that my E-10 was not a DSLR or ZLR...yet it
does have and need an eyepiece shutter...so maybe some other cameras use
them too? Or you can let me join your club (Oh...Please...Please...Please!)
But, whatever....your agenda based answer did not apply here...nobody is
calling the 2020 an slr of any sort. Its not anything like.

"Don Stauffer in Minneapolis" wrote in message
om...
I thought I understood cameras pretty well, but what exactly is an
eyepiece "shutter"? I have a number of film SLRs, and none have an
eyepiece shutter. Why is an eyepiece shutter necessary on a digital
SLR?


Light entering the camera through the eyepiece can affect metering and
exposure. Not a huge deal, but it can affect the images. My D2H and all
pro-body cameras from Nikon (F5, D1, D1H, D1X, D2H, D2X) all have a lever
next to the eyepiece that you can flip down a shutter completely blocking
the eyepiece. All other Nikon SLR and dSLR cameras come with a little
plastic piece (that is almost immediately lost) that can be slipped over the
eyepiece and block it (less conveniently, but just as effectively). One
little side benefit is that the eyepiece can't be unscrewed while the
shutter is open so that it's less likely to come unscrewed and get lost.

I rarely use the eyepiece shutter except maybe on long tripod eposures. Most
of my shooting is with my eye at the eyepiece and I have the accessory DK-1
eyecup which, when my eye is at the eyepiece, effectively blocks most of the
light anyway.

HMc

"Don Stauffer in Minneapolis" wrote in message
om...
I thought I understood cameras pretty well, but what exactly is an
eyepiece "shutter"? I have a number of film SLRs, and none have an
eyepiece shutter. Why is an eyepiece shutter necessary on a digital
SLR?


Light entering the camera through the eyepiece can affect metering and
exposure. Not a huge deal, but it can affect the images. My D2H and all
pro-body cameras from Nikon (F5, D1, D1H, D1X, D2H, D2X) all have a lever
next to the eyepiece that you can flip down a shutter completely blocking
the eyepiece. All other Nikon SLR and dSLR cameras come with a little
plastic piece (that is almost immediately lost) that can be slipped over the
eyepiece and block it (less conveniently, but just as effectively). One
little side benefit is that the eyepiece can't be unscrewed while the
shutter is open so that it's less likely to come unscrewed and get lost.

I rarely use the eyepiece shutter except maybe on long tripod eposures. Most
of my shooting is with my eye at the eyepiece and I have the accessory DK-1
eyecup which, when my eye is at the eyepiece, effectively blocks most of the
light anyway.

HMc