Diopters for the Fuji X-Pro1

Several readers have mentioned the Fuji X-Pro1's lack of built-in diopter correction. A commenter named peter [sic—I always reproduce commenter names just as they come in] mentioned this morning that Nikon FM-style diopters fit the Fuji's eyepiece. That's fortunate, because those are the most common aftermarket diopters (well, they're not aftermarket, but they might as well be), and they're widely available.

At B&H Photo, they'll be labeled "Diopter for FM3A, FM2, FM, FE2, FE & FA" and they cost $21.95 each. Admittedly, that doesn't help if you don't know what diopter you need, but maybe your optician could help you there. Or perhaps you have another camera on which the diopter correction dial or slider is marked with actual values.

No diopters possible with the Agfa Super Isolette. Photo by alf sigaro.

I need a –2 diopter and I like to use old cameras from time to time, so I'm very sensitive to the diopter issue. The biggest problem with add-on diopters is not the need to use them while the camera's still current, but rather the headache of finding them for older, discontinued cameras that have dedicated or proprietary eyepieces. Try finding a –2 diopter for a Spotmatic, for instance. In one case, I got rid of a beautiful old camera—an Agfa Super Isolette—because I really needed a diopter for it. I could have epoxied a plastic-framed diopter over the eyepiece easily enough, but in the end I decided I just didn't want to be responsible for vandalizing such a beautiful old camera in that way. I sold it on instead.

Incidentally, the Agfa Super Isolette, also called the Ansco Super Speedex (same camera, different marketing) is an awesomely overbuilt German mechanical camera capable of wonderful results. If you have young eyes and happen to have lusted after the Fuji GF670 (also called the Voigtländer Bessa III 667—same camera, different marketing), the Super Isolette is a great alternative for one-quarter to one-eighth the price. It's an easy camera to learn to use. (I'd buy mine from Jurgen Kreckl at Certo6.com—in fact, I did.)

To bring this post full circle, I believe the Fuji GF670 also accepts Nikon FM-style diopters...although you shouldn't take my word for that.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
A book of interest today:

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Doug: "Some technical notes on dioptric correction lenses.

"Nikon, like Canon and maybe other manufacturers, labels their correction lenses by the total effect when mounted on a camera with the standard –1 diopter viewfinder, so a '–2' lens has an additional –1. There is no '–1' correction lens, because that'd be plain glass. There is, however, a '0' (Nikon seems to call it 'neutral') correction lens that has a +1 correction.

"Dioptric numbers for viewfinders are straightforward. They determine the apparent distance (for eye-focusing) of the viewscreen. They're numbered in –1/meters.

0/neutral: infinity
–0.5: 2 meters
–1 (standard viewfinder): 1 meter
–2: 1/2 meter
–3: 1/3 meter
+anything: Buzz Lightyear territory (infinity and beyond)

Jim Gamblin: "B&H has the Fuji diopters for $14.95. also Voigtlander diopters will worko on the Fuji X-Pro1, maybe a little higher priced. [Stephen Gandy sells those—thanks to Bill Lewis for that. —Ed.] Look for 19mm thread. Unlike the Nikon diopters, buy the others to match your perscription. After putting a +2 (just like my reading glasses) on my X-Pro1 it felt like a new camera—worth the price and effort."

JonA: "You need to keep quiet about the Agfa cameras! Keeps the prices down while most people go for the famous-named Zeiss and Voigtlaender ones and they therefore keep the prices high on those. I like square format and Tessar lenses so I've been figuring I'd buy an Agfa Super Isolette from certo6 whenever I had the money to spend. (If you wait until you have the money to spend you'll never have it or you'll have already spent it on something else)."

John Robison: "I'm surprised modern, expensive cameras don't all have built in diopter correction. Of course if you have more than a minor astigmatism correction then it probably would not work very well. I have found that as I've aged it is harder to find the exact correction for my film SLR. I still prefer manual focus but my focus error rate is increasing."

Mike replies: Me too, and mine too. I'm smack in the middle of middle age (making me middle-middle-aged), and I guess autofocus was made for folks of my (our?) vintage.

Ctein replies: If you're using a rangefinder camera with superimposed-image focusing, it's important to correct your vision for both astigmatism and focus. If you have astigmatism and you do not correct for it with glasses or a prescription eyepiece, you will get an erroneous focus. Read my column (and the comments) on this. A simple diopter correction will not solve the problem.

Comments

[Chad Thompson]

I too heartily recommend certo6.com. Jurgen works magic with old folders. And I have to say, I prefer the Agfa Super Isolette to most of the Zeiss folders of the same vintage. I've been fascinated by the Fuji GF 670 since its introduction but have never been able to part with the cash for what seems to be just a few upgrades.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Or, since the X-Pro1 is NOT a rare classic camera, you could just whip out the epoxy!

[Carl Leonardi]

Try a used or new hard contact lens of the right diopter or have an eyeglass store grind a diopter lens down to the size you need.
I hold things like that in place with Tacky Wax. Tacky Wax is easily removed.
Great for holding the wrong diameter closeup lenses on any lens.
As a pro commercial photog, I never left home without a gob of Tacky Wax.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Yes, beautiful camera. Reminds me very much of one of my first cameras (bought for like ten bucks!), though mine didn't have the rangefinder. It came with a yellow-green filter which seemed to have lived on the camera, 'cuz it was all scratched up, and when I removed it, the lens was pure as gold.

--
Couldn't you just have stuck a diopter on there with silver tape, and taken it off after use?
I love beautiful things, but I don't mind the occasional ugly solution. Unlike an old friend of mine who is unable to compromise on anything, so he lived for years in an apartment with, for example, no curtains because he hadn't found any he liked!

I'll also glue rubber pads on the back of my ereaders and tablets to increase usability. Most people have too much respect (or "respect"?) for the hardware to do that.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

The Fuji is also beautiful.
Do you think the Agfa lens compares to the Fuji one?

[Stephen]

Mike,

Fuji has announced that they are releasing a range of diopters for the X-Pro1. I'm not sure if they are yet widely available. They are priced around US$20.

Here's a post about it, containing the press release:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2012/07/30/fuji-preps-diopter-correction-lenses-for-x-pro1

[robert e]

There's also the eyeglasses option. I'm extremely nearsighted, but my glasses let me leave the diopter adjustment on "0".

I doubt most photographers would be willing to wear a pair of glasses just for shooting if they don't otherwise need them, but for that very special camera one uses only occasionally, perhaps. Monocles might actually work better for photographers, if one could still get them, but I'm getting silly.

I'm not surprised that you sold that Super Isolette, Mike. Seeing properly through the finder is critical to enjoying a camera--at least for me. I have a Zorki rangefinder with a diopter lever. Sometimes I'd get very frustrated with the "terrible" finder, then realize that I'd accidentally moved the lever.

[Bill Lewis]

Steve Gandy sells diopter lenses for Fuji xpro 1.

http://checkout.cameraquest.com/voigtlander-bessa-accessory---diopter-eyepieces.htm

[MartinB]

I've tried to use eye piece diopters but even after the distance correction, my astigmatism gets in the way too much! Pity, because eyeglasses move my eye too far away from some finders to get a full view.

If astigmatics are thinking of diopters that may be useful to know.

[John Robison]

Contraption builder John here.

If I were fortunate enough to own that Super Isolette then I would fashion a 'L' shaped piece of aluminum that would slip in the accessory shoe. It would be configured to take a slip on eyecup that would accept diopters and as a bonus, a rotating right angle finder.

Yes, it could work. I'm sure it could.

[hugh crawford]

Mike,
I think you accidently put the book of interest for PLUS 2 diopters. For MINUS 2 diopters don't you want this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Far-Close-Martina-Hoogland-Ivanow/dp/3865217354/

[Mark Layne]

I am certainly keeping my Super Isolette- incidentally the entire lens unit moves when focussing -unlike many other good folders which focus with the front element only.
Mark

[Christian]

Monocles might actually work better for photographers, if one could still get them, but I'm getting silly.

Might I suggest that you are getting dapper, as opposed to silly? Tip top, good sir.

[Matt Alofs]

With Doug's diopter to focal length conversion, if you need diopter correction for an older camera, couldn't you just order whatever lens you need from some place like surplusshed.com? I did this when I needed to replace the rear VF lens in my Hexar RF. At $4 a lens it was cheap, and it worked too. Process described here: http://1pt4.com/blog/diy-hexar-rf-eyepiece/

[Dave Stewart]

Thank you for the mention of Jurgen Kreckl at Certo6.com, both here, and in another recent post. I've been seeking someone to do a CLA on my parents' old folder. It still works, though after 55 years, I reckon it's about due a service!

Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta IV

Great fun to use, and it always leads to plenty of friendly humour, from by-passers and other photograhers. Will any of my Nikons last this long?

[Will Frostmill]

robert e,

Monocle?
Sure, 50$ from Warby Parker, an online eyeglass store - try before you buy and everything! They do reading glass diopters, or you can send them a real prescription.

Mike,
I think you'd probably find their shop quite charming - classic style frames, and a business plan where they mail you any five frames for you to try on at home. (Perfect for someone like yourself who likes trying and thoroughly experiencing a nifty thing before committing to buying.) You pick one or more, and they grind a prescription and mail it to you right away. The price is great too, only 95$. (Also, for every pair someone buys, they donate a pair to a vision charity.)

Will

[Roger]

Any of the round, screw-in Nikon diopters will work. I use one of the old F/F2 metal Nikon diopters (+2). The paint is wearing off slowly, revealing the brass. The paint is also wearing away on my Thumbs Up grip. Add in the Gordy's leather wrist strap and the Fuji is quite the hipster rig.

While the diopter helps the EVF it's a bit of a pain for the OVF: The information overlay is nicely in focus while the scene through the OVF is somewhat blurred.

[hugh crawford]

Gosh , at 814 yards across that's a Doctor Evil's Solar Death Ray size monocle unless they have confused furlongs and centimeters one of which is about 20000 time the size of the other

[Joseph Reid]

This might be helpful if anyone is thinking of buying the X-Pro1. Normally a minus-2 diopter works best for me but I find I don't need it with this camera. On the other hand I looked through Fuji's new EVF-only version of the camera at the big trade show in NY last week and with that camera I definitely needed correction.

[R. Edelman]

I checked out a Fuji X-Pro 1 as soon as one was available. One of the first things that I noticed was a lack of a built-in diopter correction. What a surprise! Gosh, you would think that after going through all of that trouble engineering a camera with a hybrid optic/electronic viewfinder, someone at Fuji would have thought to include the diopter correction.

[John McMillin]

That's an odd omission, since my x10, at about half the price, has a built-in diopter adjustment.

[Joey Wilson]

My Dad started me shooting with an Agfa Speedex, later a Retina, and while those big negatives covered lots of small sins, they were old cameras even then and something was always a little wonky: The occasional pinhole in the bellows, dragging slow shutter speeds, etc., and in those days it didn't make much sense to send them to a professional like Jurgen. But I still love folders, and one day I WILL have the GF670. . . . sigh . . . with a diopter.

[Roy]

To me this circumvents the essential issue. The omission of integral adjustment on a camera in this market sector, of which the OVF/EVF is a key selling point, is ludicrous and sufficient reason - for me - to reject it. Even if there are workarounds available, in theory: neither of the stores I tried was intelligent enough to have alternative eyepiece lenses available to try.
Roy

[Bill Lewis]

One more comment re the Fuji xpro1 diopter. I bought a Voigtlander -2 and it worked fine. However, after only a few days of using the camera the new diopter lens was missing. It seems that it had come unscrewed and fallen off somewhere. The fine threads on these devices are easily loosened so the message is be sure it is on tightly and check frequently for loosening. I suppose if one intends to keep the camera a very small amount of a thread sealing material could be used.

[JonA]

Mike, quick question: Are the Solinar lenses in the other Agfa Isolettes as good as the one in the Super Isolette? You lose out on the rangefinder so you have to guess focus distance but that just adds to the fun...or torture. You may also lose the whole lens focusing for the front element focusing but does that really matter unless you are using a polarizer?

[John Holland]

I also need -2 diopters for my many cheap SLRs, and I've found that the Nikon DK-20C rectangular diopters (for the D300, FM10 etc.) fit (tightly) on Pentax Spotmatics, K-series and M-series SLRs, and also on Olympus OM-1's and OM-2's. You can buy them brand-new for $11.99 at Mike's B&H link; I did.

For the Olympus's, the Nikon diopter's outer frame is the correct width but a bit too tall, and can interfere with opening the film door when it's all the way down. I just put it most of the way on, and secure it in place with a touch of rubber cement. Since the Nikon diopter lens is bigger than the Olympus eyepiece, this doesn't interfere with the view at all. And the rubber cement comes off easily and leaves no mark on the camera (at least if it's a chrome body -- don't know about black paint.)

[Mike Johnston]

JonA,
Don't know, sorry.

Mike

[Ben]

The external evf for the NEX 5n has a dipoter correction slider... don't know if it's useful as I don't need it, but it's there. I agree that it should be in all high end cameras...

[robert e]

Warby Parker looks nice indeed. (For glasses--my eyes are too bad to make monocles practical, alas.) Thanks Will!

[Jan Kuba]

Japana exposures has 19 mm Cosina diopter correction lenses for viewfinder of Fujifilm X-Pro 1 cameras. Available in +3D, +2D, +1D, -1D, -2D, -3D -.
You should however take into account that the Fuji XPro1 already has a builtin -1 strenght diopter, so you should correct this to a +1 to whatever result of your optometrist.