I have been shooting on the same Sony a9 for nearly 2 years now. For most of that time, it’s been an indestructible workhorse performing through many bumps and rainfalls over tens of thousands of photos. Then, however, a few weeks ago I dropped it on a kitchen floor. The result was a blurry viewfinder. The diopter adjuster, also known as that little knob on the viewfinder that focuses the viewfinder to the specific needs of your eyeball, was of no use.
I unscrewed and removed the diopter dial off to make sure it was actually turning the inner mechanism. It was. I considered taking the viewfinder apart, but getting into the viewfinder on a9s and later models of the a7 requires an involved teardown of the camera body. I have enough experience with my own mechanical limitations to know there was a chance that me trying the teardown could lead to a repaired viewfinder… and a much greater chance that it would lead to me crying into a giant pile of loose screws and disconnected circuit boards, cables, and capacitors.
I considered sending the camera off somewhere for repair. The drawback with that is that most any competent a9 mechanical repair will run at least $400. There was also the strong possibility that the camera would need a new viewfinder unit, which pops up prices fast given how advanced the Sony electronic viewfinder is. It didn’t make sense to drop all that money on a 2-year-old camera when $500+ could go so far picking up a new a9 or the new a7r4 with its ginormous sensor.
So for a while I started relying more on the camera’s rear monitor. I used more native E-Mount lenses that allowed for autofocus. I turned on focus peaking for when I was using vintage manual lenses. I was still more or less just as adept and proficient a photographer this way, but photography became far less pleasurable for me. I felt disconnected from my camera and my subjects. I realized how much of the rush of shooting depended on being completely lost in the viewfinder, seeing only what was in frame.
After a little research, I found a very roundabout (some might say ridiculous) workaround to have a viewfinder again. I attached a $55 Movo monitor magnifier:
My Sony a9 equipped with Movo monitor magnifier. The lens is my trusty ole Helios 44-2.
This universal adapter turns your camera’s back LCD monitor into bigass viewfinder. It’s not the sturdiest piece of equipment, and the optics are simply cheap plastic, but it’s got a diopter, the plastic keeps it lightweight, and it serves its purpose. I can now look into a viewfinder and get lost in the image.
The biggest drawback is obvious: My once wonderfully compact a9 is now waaay longer. I guess it could be good for impressing people who will assume that bigger is better, but I don’t like having a more conspicuous and unwieldy camera. It also makes the Sony’s main menu and c3 buttons tougher, though not impossible, to operate. But for me these are small prices to pay for having a real viewfinder again. I feel like I have my camera back!