Optical viewfinder for costume heads

A costume head, comprising:

• an outer shell defining an interior space for receiving a head of a human performer, wherein the outer shell includes an aperture allowing incoming light from an exterior space outside the outer shell to enter the interior space and wherein an eye location for the human performer is spaced apart from the aperture when the head is received in the interior space;
• and
• an optical viewfinder assembly disposed within the interior space of the outer shell between the aperture and the eye location,
• wherein the eye location is coplanar with a center axis of the aperture,
• wherein the optical viewfinder assembly comprises a non-inverting optical relay,
• wherein the non-inverting optical relay comprises an inverting prism adjacent an outlet of the aperture into the interior space for receiving the incoming light and further comprises, between the eye location and the inverting prism, a pair of spaced apart lenses with a diffusing screen element positioned between the pair of spaced apart lenses for displaying a non-inverted image to the eye location, and
• wherein the non-inverting optical relay receives the incoming light and transmits the incoming light to the eye location to move a viewpoint of the human performer to the aperture.

A costume head, comprising:

• a shell with an interior space for receiving a head of a performer, wherein the outer shell includes a view portal defining a path for incoming light from an exterior space into the interior space;
• and
• an optical viewfinder disposed within the interior space of the outer shell receiving the incoming light and directing the incoming light to an eye of the performer when the head of the performer is positioned in the interior space,
• wherein the incoming light is optically transformed to cause the eye, spaced apart a distance of at least one inch away from the view portal, to have a viewpoint at or near the view portal,
• wherein the optical viewfinder comprises a non-inverting optical relay, and
• wherein the non-inverting optical relay comprises an inverting prism proximate to adjacent an outlet of the view portal into the interior space for receiving the incoming light and further comprises, between a location of the eye and the inverting prism, a pair of spaced apart lenses with a diffusing screen element positioned between the pair of spaced apart lenses for displaying a non-inverted image to the eye location.