Make your finder view a
finer view – magnify
M
inolta used to work with slightly different oculars. Because
Shanghai Optical Company no adaptor is needed for Alpha, the
in China, and passed on fit is more secure and the glass is
many designs to them, including the closer to the eyepiece of the camera.
X-series MD mount cameras. The To fit the finder, you must first
X-300 model, in various modified slide the rubber eyesurround off your
forms, is still made in China under camera. This can show resistance
Shanghai’s well-known Seagull when it has never been removed.
brand name. You can buy new Do not push it by the rubber, get a
ones in the UK to use with MD fingernail against each side of the
mount lenses, and there is even a hard frame this is glued to, and
Chinese 17mm ƒ4 for the system. push it up using balanced pressure.
One of the designs which Shanghai Once removed, it will easily fit back
Optical may have manufactured for and slide off again in future.
a period was the right-angle finder When you switch from 1X to 2.5X
Vn MkII, with its 1X or 2.5X view you see a much enlarged centre of
switching and rotating mount. The Vn the focusing screen, and you need to
versions of the angle finder use a pen- adjust the dioptre correction (middle
taprism instead of a single mirror to right hand picture). To focus your
perform the 90° angle, which keeps eyes, you need to have a reference.
the image the right way up and way This should be the half-circle
round visually no matter where you metering area marking which is on
rotate the eyepiece to. The very earli- the focus screen. Do NOT focus on the
est angle finders, like a Pentax model focus markers! They are on a separate
I used for many years, only worked overlay, which is not necessarily in
when the unit was aimed upwards The Seagull 1-2.5X angle finder contact with the focus screen, or in
and reversed the image left to right. the correct focus plane. If you want
Pentaprism angle finders were to use manual focusing you must set
costly, up to £200 each, as well the eyepiece for easy sharp focus
as heavy. They used solid glass on the metering circle marker.
components. Recently, a spate of new
low-cost angle finders clearly based
Eyecup magnifiers
on the Minolta Vn MkII design has
appeared from China. The Seagull, The second item we show here is
made by the people who know this actually made by Olympus, and it’s
design best, is my choice as most called the ME-1 Eyepiece Magnifier.
suitable for the Alpha system. It is designed to fit their E-400 and
There are 1X-2X and 1X-2.5X E-500 series camera which have tiny
variants, and also a 1.25X-2.5X which viewfinders, and enlarge the view by
sounds interesting if you can see 1.2X for anyone with good eyesight.
the whole screen at 1.25X – but I’ve I found that this device could also
not been able to try one of these. be used on the Alpha cameras by just
Typical costs from Hong Kong based pushing it into the rubber surround
eBay sellers like Link-Delight are for temporary viewing. Following on,
around £30-35 including postage, I found that both Pentax and Nikon
and this particular vendor is totally make similar devices in 1.18X and
reliable. My Seagull angle finder cost 1.17X magnifications, with a better
a little less at the time, and arrived direct fit the Alpha viewfinder slots.
within three days by airmail. There is also a 1.3X model made by
The whole thing is made of plastic, KRD which is not sold in the UK.
and the prism is obviously made using The improvement to the already
mirrors. It is light, but like many new large Alpha 700 viewfinder with the
plastic products, everything operates ME-1 in place was well worth the
smoothly from the rotating joint to the trouble of testing this £35 acces-
1-2.5X switch and the wide ranging di- sory. Sony needs to make a proper
optre correction adjustment. It comes Alpha version, shaped to allow the
with a soft case and a free blower eye-start sensors to work. The Alpha
brush for keeping the glass clean. 350 benefits in a big way, restoring
The Seagull angle finder has the its small 0.74X finder view to a big
Minolta/Sony Alpha viewfinder fit 0.89X. Sony – please make this!
as its native design. Other cameras The ME-1 –DK
need stepping adaptors to fit their Á
23 photoworld
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