Hi, I have thought about viewfinders on DSLR - Even the excellent one on Pentaxes is only APS sized, although with good magnification compared to other brands. Would it be possible to make an accessory that would magnify the viewfinder just about to look fullframe? I know there are clip-on magnifiers but these are usually ~2.5x which is too big to show the whole frame at once. I am thinking something similar to Leica's 1.25x magnifier (which magnifies the 0.56x Leicas to the same size as 0.72x Leicas, for example).
Is there such a magnifier already? From some other brand, perhaps, that could be adapted? Canon has the EP-EX15, which does exact opposite - it makes the view smaller with higher eyepoint for eyeglass viewers. If there is no such accessory existing, would it be possible to make one? Getting the necessary lens elements wouldn't be such a problem, as one might select from large accessory of movie camera lenses and other sources to get elements of necessary power and diameter, and I know competent machinists that could create a mount tube without problems. One could then mount the tube in an eyepiece like the Canon's, or reuse a clip-on magnifier's mount. What I am not sure about is how should it be constructed optically. What construction are the clip-on 2.5x magnifiers like from Pentax? A kepplerian telescope? IIRC the viewfinder makes the groundglass look like it is at 1m distance, but I am not that versed in optics - is it afocal? I think not - it creates a virtual image at 1m distance that can be focused upon just like a normal object at 1m distance - right? Another option would be to try and adapt the Leica 1.25x magnifier, but that one is very very expensive. If we could find a 1.3-1.5x clip-on magnifier that could be adapted to Pentax (and for myself, Nikon's <vbg>) viewfinder accessory mount, that could make the IstD's finder look like LX finder again! One obvious problem would be that any magnifying of the finder would lower the eyepoint, and also make it dimmer. But modern AF screens are bright enough already. Any suggestions, ideas, etc? Thanks! Frantisek
