[mattdm]

With the economy how it is and all, hobby budget indulgences have been forced down from thinking "hmmm, FA 77mm or DA★ 50-135mm" to "what's under fifty bucks?" So, with the itch to buy somethin' camera related, I picked up the O-ME53 magnifying viewfinder.

After using it for a few days, I have to say wow — this is a must-have, especially for thirty-five bucks. I really wish I had purchased it before. The 1.2× magnification doesn't seem that amazing, but suddenly my ability to tell what's in focus and what's out of focus is improved by a lot more than 20%. It feels like double, in fact.

The only caveat is: it's no good if you shoot wearing glasses. I normally wear contacts, and with my eye right to the viewfinder, the vignetting is insignificant. I have to be a bit more careful about where exactly I put my eye, but it's easy to get the hang of it. However, when I tried with my glasses on, I discovered that the edges of the frame are significantly obscured, to the point where the status line is invisible.

So the bottom line is: if you don't wear glasses, this is a must-buy. If you do, consider getting contact lenses.

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Last edited by mattdm; 02-08-2009 at 08:08 PM.

[Slowpoke Rodriguez]

Wow. I just ordered this accessory from B&H and then logged in to the forum to see if anyone had mentioned anything about it, and your post was one of the recent highlighted posts at the bottom. That's crazy.

[mattdm]

Wow. I just ordered this accessory from B&H and then logged in to the forum to see if anyone had mentioned anything about it, and your post was one of the recent highlighted posts at the bottom. That's crazy.

Heh, I like the "leap and then look" purchasing approach there.

[Slowpoke Rodriguez]

Well, sort of.... theonlinephotographer has mentioned how much he likes it in several of his posts, so I figured it was a sure thing. I can see how it probably read like I bought it on a whim, though.

[soccerjoe5]

I hope I don't offend the OP in this thread, I tried it and while it served its purpose, you should take a serious look at the KPS 1.35x magnifying eyepiece Hands-on with both, the KPS one takes the cake. Better build, more magnification and has 2 eyecups with it (one real cup, the other one is a slim ring like the D3 eyepiece). Just make sure it's the U-13C model you get. My viewfinder's bigger than the D300 and 5D of my friends

Perfect for my K20D and it's about $60 (Got it locally). You can find it on ebay (U-13C Model). Same thing, highly recommended if you don't wear glasses

BUT, the Pentax one is fine of course. If you can't get the KPS one anywhere, the Pentax one is perfectly fine.

[mattdm]

Heh, no, not offended. Does the additional magnification make for even more vignetting?

[soccerjoe5]

Thought so too, but it seems fine as long as you can get your eye pretty close. So if you're wearing glasses, it gets pretty hard to use

[Venturi]

I'm going to give it a 2nd chance. I bought one last spring for my K10D and at the time found that it obscured the display in the view finder, though it did make macro/MF work easier.
I just pulled it back out of the film can it's been sitting in for 6mos and put it on the K20D. I'm going to run with it for a week and see how it goes.

note: I do not wear corrective lenses and I'm a left-eye shooter. Last eye exam I still had 20/15 vision.

[a a i b]

I wear glasses and use the eyepiece. Not perfect, but I'd rather have it on than not.

[pasipasi]

I use the eye piece too, with glasses, and the vignette doesn't really bother me and the eye piece is going to stay mounted

[monochrome]

I use the eye piece too, with glasses, and the vignette doesn't really bother me and the eye piece is going to stay mounted

I am a left-eye shooter. Actually, I'm a left-eye everything.

I go back and forth:

1. I use the eypiece with my glasses and deal with the viewfinder margin issues.
2. I use the eyepiece without my glasses, with the diopter moved all the way to the right and I deal with my glasses.

[Ratmagiclady]

Hee. I'm waiting on one of these... (Still. Starting to wish I'd paid a little extra for faster shipping, but usually things come here in good time) Still, entertaining some high hopes, here. I'm a peer-over-the glasses type.

[Kerrowdown]

For me it's on all the time, yes I wear glasses, yes it obscures, but with my fast manual glass and Katzeye it's essential kit to aid critical focussing.

[Ratmagiclady]

Ha! Finally! Mine has just arrived.

First impressions: This is a major improvement. Without my glasses, actually, there's no appreciable vignetting at all: with them pushed down my nose out of the way, as often ends up happening, the view is vastly-improved, too. Also, there's more room for said glasses, so it's no worse than the mash-against-LCD maneuver was for vignetting, without so much mashing, particularly to keep stray light out.

I can see the display OK, this way, though it's just a bit on the edge of a clear view.

I think it's just the help I need to be able to hit with this manual-focus 28, though it still takes some peering with the stock screen, it's possible. With my 50, things are looking a fair bit more full-frame like, at least.

Think I'm still going to be needing a snappier focusing screen if I want to be using wider lenses, though.

[Buddha Jones]

I have one and my only gripe about the thing is why did they have to make the viewfinder so small?

Ive been tempted to buy another one and take a dremmel to it and make it bigger.