[Mychael]

Just got mine today and put it on. I can see (pardon the pun) two advantages, one being it keeps my cheek a bit further away from the body and makes it easier to adjust the diopter.
Apart from that though I don't see any other gains in it's use.

Am I missing something or is that it?

[wlachan]

It's 1.2X only so the difference might not be obvious.

[wizofoz]

I use them on both my K-5 and K-7.

I agree that it keeps my big shnoz a liitle further away from the LCD screen (I'm generally a left eyed shooter) and the slight magnification is also good for my aging eyesight.

[Clavius]

It's 1.2X only so the difference might not be obvious.

Depends on the viewer maybe. I use it on my K5, and I'm really very happy with it. The viewfinder of the K5 is already big, but even bigger with the ME-53. After attaching it, I found myself pressing my eye further against the viewfinder to be able to see the screen in whole. So yes, it's very noticeable.

[Mychael]

I'm also left master eye so the biggest gain is the bit of extra space. However I find I don't see the display in the viewfinder as well as I could before.

[yusuf]

somehow I didn't find it much useful, magnification is very small and wasn't very noticeable.

[Dark_Mist]

I first tried one on my *istD and found it so useful I've used it on each body since.

I recently bought another two so I now have one on each of my main, back up and IR converted bodies.

It does make it a little more difficult to see the LCD info at the bottom of the viewfinder though.

[jatrax]

Use it all the time. Makes manual focusing a little bit easier. It is not a huge improvement but it helps. It does make the LCD Info a little harder to read. I wear glasses and the stand off distance from the LCD makes things work better for me.

It is not a magic bullet, just a nice improvement.

[derekkite]

Look carefully at the difference when you are manually focusing. The comparison to make is of the proportion of photos in focus with and without. I could not see focus in lower light conditions without it. The magnification is not apparent until you are looking at the small details when focusing.

[RonHendriks1966]

I have them on both my K-5's. When I got the first one, we where in a car and my brother said "I don't see anything" and the kids in the back where yelling "O wow it's a loupe". So it has to do something. I like it anyways, for the little magnification and for sticking out a little from the body.

[drougge]

I have one, and I'm inconsistent in using it. I got it because because the finder on my K20 (now K5) feels like such a tiny little thing.

Sometimes I want the magnification, sometimes I feel like it makes it too hard to see the whole image. Which is strange, because the image is still smaller than on just about any of my film cameras, where I don't have that problem.

I like the extra nose space at least.

[Macario]

I got mine to help manual focus when shooting macro. But it stays on now, it isn't big difference, but it is big enough

[Canada_Rockies]

I have mine welded to my K10. Together with an older, grainier, focusing screen, it is quite a bit easier to see the point of focus. I use two MF only lenses, and any help that does not obscure the corners is good for me. I wear contact lenses when photographing, so there is little loss of the info line below the screen.