Thought I would pass this along in case anyone finds it useful. Making your own LCD viewfinder/loupe is pretty easy. Most tutorials will tell you to start with a low power magnifying glass, but a better option (IMHO) is to find an old 2x2 slide viewer and appropriate parts.
I found a CAPITAL 2-Way Slide Viewer at a thrift store yesterday (like new in the box which also contained a cool old aqua & black Kodak Pocket Viewer - a fold out magnifier with opaque white base.) What is nice about the Capital is that the square box with the magnifying lens slides out of the rest of the unit with a single set screw. The 2x2 opening at the bottom of it needs to be opened to match the LCD screen, but otherwise all the work is basically done for you. If you also want to block out light then you can find a plastics container (optionally affixing a rubber eyecup) that you can attach to the end of the Slide Viewer magnifier. This should work perfectly on a K-01, which has no optical viewfinder. On a camera with optical viewfinder you may need to get a little fiddley with cutting away some more material to make way for your optical viewing cup, etc. The box from the CAPITAL slide viewer is nearly exactly as tall as the K-01 (including the prism) meaning that you could affix the viewfinder by means of a tab that engages the hot shoe (that you would need to fashion and attach to the magnifying box. -- “The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness ” ― Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
