Originally posted by PentaxPoke I never took a close look to see. I think it might be a press-fit. BTW, you can see the magnification in the pictures I posted. What do you think of it?
The whole assembly comes apart and goes back together very easily. You'll need a jewler's philips head screw driver and you'll want some plastic tweezers or foreceps to handle the glass. There are four screws that hold the two halves of the "chassis" together. Two elements make up the lens, spaced apart by a platic ring. I disassembled mine so I could properly clean a fingerprint off the front element - it's nye-on impossible to get the edges cleaned while assembled because the front element is convex.
FWIW removing the elements out won't alleviate the vignetting or obstruction of the data bar in the view finder. The shape and size of the "aperture" itself is what causes this. If they'd designed it 2-3mm taller the vignetting would probably dissappear completely for most users.
I also think some of the difference in people's experience with the vignetting has to do with their facial structure around the eye. I have a pronounced brow (insert cromagnon or neanderthal jokes) and I have to kind of prop my eyebrow over the top of the eyepiece to get past the vignetting. It's not uncomfortable, but requires conscious thought on my part.
I'm still up in the air about it. It is handy for macro/MF shooting, and I do like the extra relief it provides me since I'm left-eyed. But a KatzEye with OptiBrite will rock your world in MF, and a 2x right-angle finder or even live view is probably more often practical for macro work.
I've been forcing myself to use the O-ME53 for a little over a week now to see if it's something I'll get use to or if I really just don't care for it; right now I'm still leaning towards the "not for me" camp. By the end of next week I'll either choose to keep it or there will be another used but well cared for O-ME53 available in the marketplace.