DIY 35mm Viewfinder

[pbjbike]

I used to be a subscriber to the LUG, but the sheer volume of emails was too much...I log on once in awhile and found this link, might be interesting to some--Take a disposable camera and remove the plastic finder, do a bit of sawing and filing and, voici! a super cheap 35 finder:

http://www.ragarecords.com/photo/diy_viewfinder.html

Cheers

 

[pbjbike]

I like the looks of yours better--You're eithere a fast filer or this is OLD news...

 

[wlewisiii]

I built mine out of the finder from a totally dead Oly XA2 ($2 at the thrift store). It too had a 35mm lens so the VF worked really well once superglued to the foot from an equally dead flash.

I think I'm going to have to try your idea though, just for fun if nothing else.

William

 

[wlewisiii]

Brightlines? Getting into luxury land there, G'man. Canon Snappy LX? I guess I'll have to keep an eye open for them at the thrift shops. Are those just cheap P&S or one use cameras?

William

 

[magnus67]

My version of doing this

My version of doing this

Inspired by Jay's description , this is how I made a 35 mm viewfinder for my Jupiter 12:

I went to my local 1-hour lab to get a used disposable camera, but they didn't have any to offer. Seems they have become rare nowadays. So I browsed some classified ads in search of a suitable compact camera to operate on. I excluded all cameras with zoom lenses since their viewfinders probably are much to complicated. Finally I chose a Konica Top's.

I used a small screwdriver, a pair of cutting pliers, a knife and a file. By applying a bit of surgery I managed to get out a nice viewfinder from within the camera. I think I was lucky in my choice of camera. The viewfinder was well contained in its plastic "envelope".

From some small pieces of thin plywood I glued togheter a holder for the flash shoe.

The somewhat tricky part is to get the viewfinder correctly aligned. I solved this by taping a piece of thin waxed paper in place of the film and setting the shutter speed at B. When the image on my "film" and what I saw in the viewfinder was pretty much the same I glued the viewfinder onto the foot.

 

[magnus67]

And this is the result. It might not be the most beautiful viewfinder I've seen, but it does the job.

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Hey Magnus,
Fine job,and it sets off the J12 a treat🙂

Brian.

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

Dear Magnus,

kudos to you!

 

[TheHub]

And this is the result. It might not be the most beautiful viewfinder I've seen, but it does the job.

Actually it's quite nice 🙂

 

[Spyderman]

One good advice when making a DIY viewfinder: don't use cyanoacrylate glue or ensure good ventilation of fumes from the glue. It can easily fog the glass of the VF and it's difficult to clean.

 

[paulfish4570]

Nice, useful tips. Thanks.