How do you adjust the eyepiece?

Thursday 5 November 2020, 22:44 by Frouke Ringenoldus | 6,814 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I can already hear you thinking, what is there to say about that? I only look through it, right? But there is actually quite a bit to say about it. It is a piece of optics.

You are interested in photography, so I assume you work with a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. And although you can look at the display on some cameras, you usually look through the eyepiece, also called the viewfinder or viewing window, to take a photo.

You sometimes read that you should adjust the eyepiece to your own eyes, but how do you do that?

If you wear glasses or contact lenses, you can assume that your eyes are properly corrected. Even so, you do not know how the eyepiece is set when you buy a new camera.

If you do not wear glasses or contact lenses, you may still need a (slight) correction. You only have one pair of eyes, so you have nothing to compare how you could see it. To be sure, you can have an eye test done by an optometrist.

If you wear glasses or contact lenses for distance vision, put them on when you are going to take photos or focus the eyepiece!

If you are the only person using your camera, you only really need to do this once. It is especially important to have your eyepiece set correctly if you are going to focus manually.

How does it work?

Next to the eyepiece there is a small wheel. On some cameras, there is a plus and minus sign next to it. Turn this wheel all the way towards the plus. If the symbols are not shown on your camera, turn it all the way clockwise, to the right.

Your eyes can no longer 'accommodate', in other words, focus by themselves.

Now look through the eyepiece for a subject that is clearly visible and not too far away.

Once you have found one, half-press the shutter button, which makes your camera focus on the subject. Your subject should now be blurred.

Then slowly turn the wheel anticlockwise, towards the minus. As soon as the image is sharp, stop immediately, because the eyepiece is now correctly set for your eyes!

If you think you have turned too far towards the minus, start again from the beginning!

Be careful not to turn too far towards the minus. If you do, your eyes will accommodate. Your eyes will then correct the excess minus themselves.

When your eyes accommodate, you think you have a sharper image. The image actually only becomes smaller and darker, not sharper. If you have to accommodate constantly while taking photos, it is tiring and can cause headaches.

It is a bit of a faff, but once you have set your eyepiece, it stays unchanged and you will benefit from it for a long time.

Angle finder

Do you like photographing things close to the ground, such as mushrooms, and do you have a camera where you can only look through the eyepiece and not through a display? Then you will recognise how you often end up straining your neck.

Most camera brands have come up with a solution for this, the so-called angle finder. You attach this to your eyepiece, allowing you to look through the eyepiece from above. Looking from above takes some getting used to.

An added benefit is that angle finders can provide a magnified image, making it easier to focus. Do not forget to set the focus of your angle finder correctly, just like with your eyepiece!

Tip:

Your eyepiece often has a rubber protector, which you can easily lose. If you wear glasses, make sure that this ring is still in place. The metal underneath the ring is quite sharp and can scratch your lenses.

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