Oh no I didn't mean off center side ways. Sorry. Actually mine doesn't have any play and it is snug fit. It is not off center sideways it just can't slide in all the way (Nikon seems to have grooves on the top and 20D doesn't) so the bottom corners are slighty croped out. I trimed the top edge so it is better but it isn't dead center still. This doesn't effect the viewing though
Ok... got mine put together last week. Made a booboo by not quite filing enough before I tried to put it together so the filed piece snapped on the thinnest edge of the ring but hey... that's what epoxy is for.
I attached the hood directly onto the DK-17M before screwing it on to the base like some others and it seems to work fine that way. Used the new eyepiece on a photoshoot and took about 350 shots with it. The 1.2X mag isn't that much, but it makes a difference and it was much more comfortable. This eyepiece will be staying on the camera (XT/350D).
I was worried that I might have diopter problems. I have to dial up +1.00 correction without the new eyepiece. I can still get it focused for my eye even with the custom eyepiece.
I see B&H sold out of the DK-17M again. Good luck to those still trying to find the parts.
The DK-2 eyecup does not appear to have threads... is this correct? I am using a non-magnified Nikon eyepiece setup similar to this except that it uses the DK-3 threaded eyecup.
Once the magnifier is back in stock, I'll be jumping on this. Nikon seems to give a damn about viewfinders much more than Canon does.
So I just put one of these together for my XT/350D. It kicks some serious booty. The 1.2x magnification is more signifcant than I expected.
For my construction I actually was able with some care in dremeling and hand filing of the adapter to get a interference/friction fit and didn't need any epoxy. Took some extra time, but in the end I got it to snap flush with the adapter.
I opted to put the hood just behind the intended mounting flange to get the eye a little closer and have a good view of the entire image and status display like the original poster. I removed the rubber ring from the DK-17M to move the hood a little further out as another poster suggested. It seemed with it mounted on the intended flange it kept my eye just a tad too far away.
Anyway, I haven't been able to fiddle with it too much so far, but from the little handling I have had I absolutely love it. Thanks for the great thread!
Sorry for second post, but wanted to add for anyone else considering this or finding this thread in the archive. Since the 2370 adapter is so cheap (couple of bucks) you might as well buy a couple of them when you order in case you break or mangle one while filing/dremmeling. Less chance you'll need epoxy or have to order a replacement and pay three times as much in shipping!
rathman wrote:
I originally thought that this idea was new but running a search shows that the same procedure has been done for many different cameras in many different ways. No sense in re-inventing the wheel like I did. Here are some links.
Dragon wrote:
On a D70: http://blog.webs-tv.net/f717man/article/615572
If you look at this URL, he used a step-up ring to secure the DK-17M to the 2370 eyepiece adapter. Why do you need to enlarge the adapter?
Can you elaborate a bit on this step-up ring? The link provided is in a language I cannot read and the photo does not reveal the step-up ring.
>> Can you elaborate a bit on this step-up ring? The link provided is in a language I cannot read and the photo does not reveal the step-up ring.
Well. in the pictures that he's shown, the piece on the top right is a step ring. He said in his blog that the assembly time is in a few seconds. I don't know if this ring is a Nikon product or something specially made.
Yeah, sure looks like he has some sort of step up ring. The downside to that is that I really wanted to get the magnifier as flush to the viewfinder as I possibly could so I wouldn't chop off any of the image or status information. With the magnifier further back on account of the adapter I think you'd start to lose the corners. Still, definately looks easier!
So as it turns out I'm really not very good with the old Dremmel....I should have listened to whoever it was who suggested buying multiple adapter pieces.
Anyone with some Dremmel smarts that can tell me the best attachment to use? I will give it another shot.
Still though, I did manage get it together but would like to make a 'clean' version ...and I have to say I like it, I've always had trouble manual focusing my DRebel, but now it's much easier.
Thanks for the original post here....news you can use...
Bob Bell wrote:
Has anyone tried this with a 1DmkII, a 20D, and a D60? Does it work with all 3? This is a great Idea and I would love to buy or own one.
I tried it on my buddies 20d, and it works just like it does on my xt
gammon wrote:
Anyone with some Dremmel smarts that can tell me the best attachment to use? I will give it another shot.
I tried a few things. The coarse sand paper heads just seemed to rip stuff up bad - effecitve but ugly. The sort of ceramic/abrasive heads seemed to gum up in an instant. I had some small roughened metal heads. These were slow, but worked well. I tried moving the dremmel in arcs along the inside of the adapter. I found if I tried to apply too much pressure in the direction opposite the dremel wanted to "walk" it could stick and dig in quickly in one spot making it uneven. If I got a spot too high I found it was easier to smooth it out with a hand file instead of the dremel - the dremel seemed to want to slide off the peak.
For an epoxyless interference fit I got it to the size where then magnifier would just barely start to fit - basically you could almost start cutting threads with the magnifier itself. Then I used the dremmel to flare the opening so it was a little bigger on the camera side by holding the dremmel at an angle. The with some wiggling and pressure (and many iterations of trial and error) it eventually got to the point where the threads snapped past the slightly too small opening. I'm sure just making it bigger and using epoxy would be less fussy but I figured I'd give this a try and use epoxy as a back up it I got the opening too big. Also, beware of the bottom edge of the adapter - the plastic there gets quite thin as you open up the hole.
I'm off to get another adapter and I'll give it another shot...as always it's better to be patient and do it carefully than hurry and screw it up (wish I could get remember that! )
