question on f3 dw3 waist finder

[ampguy]

I just got one of these, and it seems like a very useful accessory. Anyways, is there a trick to getting the magnifier to pop out? It seems tightly hinged to the hood, with no easily visible grab points?

 

[wotalegend]

This is 18 hours later, so first I will ask "Have you worked it out yet?" When the finder is open, in the centre of the top edge to the left of the opening 'knob' is what I would call a slightly recessed bit of metal, about the same dimensions as the opening 'knob'. Press down on that and the magnifier will pop up. To get the magnifier down again, just push on the magnifier itself. You are right, it is a very useful accessory, particularly for ground level shots or when you don't want to put the camera to your eye. It's amazing how most people, in these days of digital P&S's at arms length in front, don't realise that you could be taking a photo when you are looking down at the camera at waist level. The problem I have found with my DW-3 is the difficulty of getting good manual focus on such a small image with my deteriorating eyesight. Consequently I have been looking for a DW-30 for my F5 for quite a long time, and I finally snagged one on the 'bay last week. I haven't received it yet, but hopefully it should be a bit easier to focus with an AF lens.

 

[2XLX2]

dont know about ampguy, but i must thank you. because of your post i finally operated the WLF on the F properly for the first time!

🙂

 

[ampguy]

Thanks, yes I figured it out, I should have posted back sooner. Quite useful, I have to clean both sides of the magnifier with some distilled water and a clean microfiber cloth.

I have the "K" screen, and can focus it quite well, maybe not as well as with the DE2 prism, but given 5-10 seconds to find something contrasty I can get a good focus. The reverse image is confusing moving around but I guess one gets used to that.

There is also a DW-4 that fits on the F3 with 6x mag, which I've seen, but not tried on the F3. So I will give the DW3 a workout and then maybe later try other WLFs or right angle finders.