Bessa R3A viewfinder screw-in attachment removable without consequences?

[rionda]

I just noticed that the part of the viewfinder my R3A, specifically the part with the rubber around it, can be unscrewed.


It seems to me that the detachable part is just a round piece of clear plastic with rubber around it, with no magnification or other optical properties.


It therefore seems safe to use the camera without this part, as doing so would have the benefit of allowing me (as I wear glasses) to actually see a larger part of the area covered by the viewfinder.



Does anyone see any drawback in removing this small piece from the camera?

 

[MaxElmar]

The remaining metal(?) part will scratch glasses - esp. plastic lenses. Otherwise, no drawbacks.

 

[Huss]

Yeah it's to prevent damaging glasses etc and allows for diopters to be used.

FYI the same piece for Nikon Fm2/Fe2 fits perfectly and is much cheaper than the Cosina part.

 

[rionda]

Thanks for the replies.


The rubber around the detachable part can be removed and it seems to fit pretty well around the thread on the body, thus avoiding the drawback of potentially scratching the glasses.


I'm going to experiment with this setup.

 

[MaxElmar]

It's kind of a battle with glasses and rangefinders. Even removing the eyepiece I couldn't see the 40mm frame lines on my R3A (which I did not keep for other reasons). The R2 works a little better for me.

(Be careful not to loose the rubber part - I know I would loose it in the first five minutes!)

 

[Robert Lai]

Leave it there. It protects your eyeglasses.
It also protects the viewfinder system from ingress of dust.


Once you remove it, I expect that you'll forever lose it in less then one week.

 

[rionda]

You guys are probably right. I'll keep it on.



Are people with glasses using an eyepiece with diopter correction or is it too cumbersome to use because it kinda slow down the shooting procedure?

 

[Archlich]

It's this thing: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/37450-REG/Nikon_2925_Finder_Eyepiece_for_FM.html

Applicable to all Cosina rangefinders (Bessa and ZI) and many of the Fuji medium format cameras.

 

[Goody]

Try a diopter instead of your glasses -- I like em....