I've been mindful of this subject for a while now. On each street excursion, studio photo shoot or a simple macro, the viewfinder is an important part of my work. It tells me all I need to know. And that TTL image is superb; exactly what I want to see before squeezing on the trigger. Yet, each shot requires uninterrupted viewing that is to say I don't want any light seeping into the corners of my eye.
I am a glass wearer, but I take off the glasses and adjust the Viewfinder accordingly. This is all good, because now I can put my eye up close on the viewfinder. Yet I can see light through the left side, and light through the bridge of my nose. This light isn't normally a problem in low light settings, but outside it can be a distraction. I find I fiddle with the eye far more than I should do, this time would be better spent on adjustments to the composition. For example, last month I photographed a bench over looking the sea. The sun sat at 90 degrees to the image and I remember being aware of sunlight, an obstruction to the digital viewfinder readout and a nuisance to the lighting conditions with the image itself.
I notice this is a problem common to all modern day camera's. Often, a small piece of rubber surrounding the viewfinder is believed to be enough and I agree, for most photography it is. But there is that occasion when it fails, and when it does, I take notice.
For some time, on a completely different topic, I wanted to add an x1.4 ocular. The reason for this was to improve manual focus for portrait shooting, so I bought the andoer viewfinder ocular. Totally by accident, when I added this piece of glass, I also eliminated all side light creeping in. This is because the andoer glass comes with two extra rubber mounts. One small and one large. The large cup rubber fits closely to the eye forming a nice seal and a comfortable grip. It is so good, I bought the andoer zoom 1.08 to 1.8 glass which comes with the same rubber viewfinder mounts. The two units are so versatile, they interchange easily depending on the photography subject and have become a premiant addition to the KP, my main camera.
With so much effort placed on viewfinder design, why do manufacturer's skimp on this important detail? This issue isn't confined to only Pentax. Other camera's from Nikon, Canon and Sony are all culprit to viewfinder light creep.
With camera design the way it is now, it would seem fashion overcomes function. Isn't it time manufactures give the viewfinder better ocular options as standard or at the very least provide optional additional elements to nullify light creep at the working end?
Just a thought.