Universal 1.3x Viewfinder Magnifier

[thebinaryman]

After hearing mixed feelings over the ME-1 eyepiece, and having a good experience with previous generic off shore accessories, I decided to give this a go. For $29 USD shipped, within two weeks I received this 1.3x eyepiece magnifier from Hong Kong. Ordered from a seller on ebay and arrived just as described. Based on looks, it appears more promising than the ME-1. I attached it to my E-510 and had a "before an after" look. To my disappointment I did not see any improvement in viewfinder size or magnification. I spent a few minutes examining how this all works. When attached, the unit sticks out about 2cm from the camera. If you hold your camera about 2cm from your eyes and look through the regular viewfinder, then slide the magnification lens in between, you would see that the lens does actually magnify 1.3x. The disappointment is that bringing the camera closer to your eye, without the magnifier, does the same thing. So in comparison of your camera with or without the magnifier, the image is about the same size, and the magnifier only decreases quality and adds to the "tunneling" affect that I was hoping wouldn't happen. I was going to include a picture comparison in this review, but it's just not worth it.

There is only one situation in which this device would help someone. IF you normally hold your camera about 2-3cm from your eye to avoid your nose bumping the LCD, then this adapter will actually increase your perceived viewfinder size. However, IF you normally hold your camera with the viewfinder pressed to your eye, this attachment will offer no apparent magnification. The magnification it gives will be lost by the increased distance that it pushes the camera away from your eye.

I tested with and without eyeglasses, same result.

This sums it up. I just wasted $29 worth of beer money.

[cappybob]

That doesn't surprise me at all.

I have heard that Pentax makes one that can be modified to work on an Oly camera and that it is somewhat better than the ME-1. Cheaper too. There was lots of discussion about this on "the other" website.

I use an ME-1 on my E-520 to good result. I tried it originally on my E-500 and although it did increase the apparent size of the viewfinder, it also distorted the finder around the edges. I also tried it on my E-1 and it wasn't very good on that either. Later, after getting the E-510 I tried it on that...and Eureka! it worked very well. When I got the 520, to my delight it worked there equally well. It does change the eye point, so it's not as good with glasses, but I adjust the diopter
so I don't use my glasses when taking pictures anyway. I agree it costs too much but it is worth it to make the tiny Olympus viewfinders larger. Thankfully the E-3 doesn't need this crutch.

[thebinaryman]

I have heard that Pentax makes one that can be modified to work on an Oly camera and that it is somewhat better than the ME-1. Cheaper too. There was lots of discussion about this on "the other" website.

I too have heard of the Pentax one. It can be bought pre-modified for Oly bodies. I'm very tempted, but I can't waste any more money, and I'm somewhat happy with the normal viewfinder. It will probably be a while before I take another chance. It's good to hear something positive about this possible life-saver. Thanks.

[bg2b]

Thanks for posting this. It's important to have reviews of things that don't work as well as ones that do.