Have you adjusted your viewfinder?

[bugmeister]

Ever felt that your autofocus doesn't look sharp in the viewfinder or conversely if you use manual focus, the picture isn't quite as sharp as you thought it would be?

There could be any number of reasons but one that can affect everyone is that if your eyes aren't a perfect 20-20 then the viewfinder may need an adjustment.

On a Canon there is a small adjustment wheel beside the viewfinder (not sure where it is on a Nikon or other makes but it's probably there somewhere). It's called the dioptric adjustment wheel by Canon.

That little wheel allows for a small amount of tweaking of the focus of the viewfinder. It does NOT affect the focus of the lens or camera, just what you see in the viewfinder.

To use it (check where it is before you start so you can reset it if you wish)....

If you wear glasses or contact lenses when shooting, wear them for this adjustment. That might sound obvious, but if you normally look through the viewfinder with glasses, there's no point adjusting it without them.

Remove the lens and point the camera at a bright, but diffused light source such as a window. Removing the lens ensures that you concentrate on getting the focus screen in perfect focus without any distracting subjects.

Move the adjustment dial backwards and forwards until the focus point and other markings on the screen appear sharpest. Check that the viewfinder information displays are also sharp and also in perfect focus. The eye has an impressive ability to compensate for subjects that are not quite in perfect focus so it may be worth repeating the process a couple of times to ensure that results are consistent.

That's it, now put the lens back on and test it for real. You can always set it back to where it was and/or try again. There's nothing permanent about this.

[annie]

I shall be trying bugs....thank you for the advice.

[Leon]

I figured this out the other day, just thought I was slow as I got the camera with no destructions.

[Black Pearl]

First thing I do with any camera I pick up as my right eye is a mile out.

When I worked at Jessops you could always tell which bodies I'd demo'd...or been playing with....by the viewfinder diopter.

 

By the way you don't need to remove the lens - just more chance to get dust in - simply focus the lens to its closest so the viewfinder image looks very blurred or adjust adjust the diopter by looking at the numbers/grids etc displayed within the viewfinder.

[fuzzyedges]

Ive just one cick left cw      help is this normal? Is my eyesite that bad

[bugmeister]

Nothing unusual about that. Canon and Nikon both make dioptric adjustment viewfinders with wider ranges. The one on the camera is for eyes that aren't far out.

[Black Pearl]

Mine's hard up against the stop but it has been for a good while so I think my eyes are fairly stable - had an eye test recently and in over 6 years they've changed a fraction of a diopter.

Oddly the eye that is by far the worst is my camera eye - coincidence? I wonder if years of squinting through a million different viewfinders day-in-day-out has done it or I've just gone one crap eye.

[Guest DaveW]

Also don't try and adjust the camera without a reasonably charged battery in and with the power switched on. The reason for this being that modern focusing screens are covered with an LCD overlay showing the focusing areas etc that don't properly clear until under power. As you say Bugmeister, don't try adjusting the dioptre setting by trying to focus on a real subject, it is the focusing screen itself where the virtual image is produced your eye needs to be focused on.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6B49RL2SsA

 

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/dioptric_adjustment_lenses.do

 

I suppose as we get older we ought to check that our eyes have not deteriorated meantime and reset the dioptre setting at least every year.

 

BP and Fuzzy, if you run out of adjustment you can get afdditional dioptres that fit into the viewfinders of many Nikon's, then the built in adjustment can provide fine tuning again. I presume Canon and other camera makers sell these too:-

 

https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/953/~/slr-viewfinder-diopter-adjustment

Edited June 13, 2013 by DaveW

[JohnP]

I just cannot get on with looking through the viewfinder when wearing my specs and the adjustment wheel comes up against the stop when viewing without my specs. The only solution was to purchase a +2 diopter correction lens that clips over the viewfinder, this then puts the adjuster wheel in the centre of it's range. I just have to hold my specs in my left hand when taking shots. I can't get on looking through my binoculars when wearing specs either but that's not a problem as I can focus them OK again holding my specs in my left hand.