I had some water enter my viewfinder/diopter (Oregon) and before it dried, I tried cleaning it too hard resulting in a nice blurry patch in the center of my viewfinder lens. BE WARNED to clean those VERY GENTLY.

Anyway after reading some other posts and courtesy of Owen sending me a replacement viewfinder, it was a rather simple fix. Owen previously posted that he paid $12 for a replacement from Pentax - let me know if anyone orders one and what the part number might be. Here's the original thread with an exploded parts diagram.


The fix: (this was for my spare istDL but imagine others should be similar.
Remove 7 screws - Two under the popup flash, two beside the viewfinder. The outermost one inside the battery compartment, one below the dial on the left side of camera (viewed from back) and one below the neck strap tab on the right.
The screws are of various sizes, keep note of which goes where.

The top of the camera will now lift off, but is still attached by wires and ribbons: see picture below. The view finder assembly is probably removable, but the outermost lens is easily changed without that step. The outer piece of black plastic is held on with double sided tape, pry this cover gently off. (This is already removed in the camera picture, see pic of separate pieces below) Then there are four clips that hold the outermost viewfinder lens in, gently undo those four clips, the old will slid out, pop in the new one, and put it back together.

thanks to Owen..

Rick

[Codazzle]

Hi,

This is my first post here, and I think I have the same problem in my K100D! Blurry viewfinder but ok pictures, and altering the diopter doesn't fix the blur

I tried poking around the site and other Pentax sites for a new viewfinder and I couldn't locate one. I also couldn't find the post referring to the replacement viewfinder :P

I would much rather try fixing it myself for $12 instead of paying a camera store $200!

[robertzanzerkia]

Hi,
Same problem here (I damaged the viewfinder on istDL trying to clean it).
I will try calling Pentax for replacement lens, does anyone know part #?

BTW; Thanks for detailed instructions...

[robertzanzerkia]

Hi,
I followed above instructions and opened the top of the camera.
I have some warning for people doing this.
1) Instruction says to remove 2 screws under the pop-up flash.
BE WARNED: In order to pop up the flash you have to power up the camera.
Once flash is up it starts charging....
Becareful, I got zapped when I touched the wires.
I suggest you turn off the camera immideately after raising the flash.
Wait some time then open the top.

2) To order the part call Parts Department at 720-988-2653
Part # is "L7" see the diagram in the thread.
My cost was $16.05.

Robert

[robertzanzerkia]

I recieved the part nicely packaged.
Replaced the scratched eye piece, put the camera back togather (careful to route wires around clear LCD screen at the top).
Working as good as new for under $20 fix...

Robert