Thursday, 24 August 2017

How do I calibrate the diopter correction on my DSLR's viewfinder?



The viewfinder on my camera has diopter correction, but is there a "correct" way to set it up? In the past I've just allowed the camera to auto-focus on a distant point, and then make sure that is as sharp as possible, but this seems to be prone to error, and reliant on the auto focus of the lens. Is there a better way?



Answer



What you're looking at through the viewfinder is actually the image from the lens projected onto a ground-glass viewing screen. You want the diopter level to be adjusted so you can see that most clearly.


Fortunately, this means that you can use the etched lines on the focusing screen, as well as the status information in the viewfinder, to adjust the diopter correction. Point the camera at a featureless bright-but-not-overwhelming subject (a white wall, say), and set the lens's focus such that the wall is just a blur. Now ignore that and set the diopter so the focus screen markings and indicator information are as sharp as you can get them.


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