blurry viewfinder on mamiya 7

[rowghani]

Hey I checked out a mamiya 7 today and the viewfinder seemed dim and a tad blurry. It wasn't pleasant looking through it. I compared it to my Bronica rf645 and Mamiya 6 and both were much brighter and clearer. I thought it might be because the viewfinder is dirty or something but when I inspected the viewfinder eye piece at the back, there was another small pieces mounted to it. I only realized this when I came home and had a look at my mamiya 6, which didn't have this extra piece. I looked in the mamiya 7 manual and apparently there are Diopter Correction lenses for these cameras. Could that be what was mounted and changed the look through the viewfinder? Thanks in advance.

 

[Robert Lai]

Yes - you're looking through a diopter that is incorrect for your eyes. A Mamiya 7 viewfinder should be crisp and clear.

 

[john_s]

I bought a Mamiya7 that came with a +2 diopter (2 red dots). Since I need a -1, it was rather like your situation. To remove, it just clips into and out of place.

 

[rowghani]

Here is a picture of the back of the viewfinder. Can you guys tell if that piece is a diopter?

 

[1joel1]

Mine doesn't have any diopter in place, though I'd love to find a -2. In any case, that thing is filthy. Take it out, center bottom, and give it a look. Should be much better.
Joel

 

[john_s]

The one red dot means it's +1 (the minus ones have white dots). It comes out by shifting it upwards or downwards (i don't remember which) and hence the tab comes free.

 

[Fjäll]

I searched for "Mamiya 7 diopter" on the internet and found this image. It looks awfully similar to yours, only rotated. With this information I would be confident to believe that you do indeed have an diopter attached to your viewfinder. As mentioned by someone in this thread it could be removed easily.

Perhaps you should try to remove the diopter and see if it makes your viewfinder any less blurry.