[kb244]

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I recently received this little fix up kit for Pentax MX, ME Super and MV, primarily cuz I thought having an eye cup would be nice, and can't hurt having some of the little sync covers and body cap.

Pentax Fix Up Kit Body Cap Eye Cup for MX ME Super MV | eBay

The problems with said eye cup (which has it's own glass optics, which is convex on one side and flat on the other) that is is :

- you can't load/unload film with the eye cup attached. I'm not talking about just the rubber part being in the way if that was the case I would just bend it up to open/close the door like I have with similar cameras. But the bottom of the framing of the eye cup literally blocks the film door, so you have to either remove or push up the eye cup a bit past the 'locking' snap to do so.

- you can't see the meter reading/shutter on the right or aperture window up top without framing to the extreme opposite edge of the eye cup to see them.

So I'm curious what the original eyecup was like.

[Ole]

As far as I recall no eye cups were offered. Diopter correction lenses were, but they did not block the film door. Here is an overview of viewfinder accessories.

[kb244]

As far as I recall no eye cups were offered. Diopter correction lenses were, but they did not block the film door. Here is an overview of viewfinder accessories.

I see. That Magnifier FB looks like it could come in handy for some tripoded macro work.

I still need to see if I can find that Refconverter A, I still have a spotmatic/K kind that won't fit that I need to return (... or sell since I'm out shipping either way).

[LaHo]

There were round rubber eyecups from Pentax for ME and MX back in the 70'ies. They were OK, but not high quality items.

[Not a Number]

I see. That Magnifier FB looks like it could come in handy for some tripoded macro work.

I still need to see if I can find that Refconverter A, I still have a spotmatic/K kind that won't fit that I need to return (... or sell since I'm out shipping either way).

Not listed is the Eyepiece Magnifier M which is the earlier version of the FB.

There were a couple Refconverter As listed on KEH a couple weeks ago at reasonable prices. Probably gone by now. Ebay can be a long wait for this - few listings and plenty of bidding.

[ChrisPlatt]

There were round rubber eyecups from Pentax for ME and MX back in the 70'ies. They were OK, but not high quality items.

Several years ago I purchased a Pentax Eyecup M and was disappointed.
It is all rubber, with no metal frame to get in the way. However mine
was too rigid and prone to popping off. Age may have been a factor.

I have had success using Canon A series rubber eyecups on my Pentax cameras.
They fit well enough and and even after all these years are still soft and supple.

Chris

[gofour3]

Here is a picture of three different Pentax eye-cups:

Left an old one from the Screw-mount days, middle the "K" Series eye-cup and right the "M" Series eye-cup.

Phil.

Attached Images

 

[kb244]

They look kind of like slip-ons. (guess that would be better for the camera, no chipped corners of the viewfinder).

[gofour3]

They look kind of like slip-ons. (guess that would be better for the camera, no chipped corners of the viewfinder).

Yes there is a groove in the viewfinder frame that the rubber eye-cup slots into. Though as mentioned above if you miss the groove then the eye-cup will fall off.

Phil.

[cooltouch]

Much more common are eye cups for A-series Canons -- which also fit the FT, FTb, EF, and T70, etc. Despite the gently curved sides of the eyepiece frame on Pentaxes, the Canon eye cups are easily flexible enough to adjust to the curves and seat themselves in the slots of the eyepiece frame. Here are a couple of photos of a Canon eye cup that I keep mounted to my MX. It stays on and doesn't slip off.