On Mon, 12 Oct 1998 05:19:41 GMT, zhupanov@usa.net (Sergey Zhupanov) wrote:

>I just got a used F3HP, and am wondering wheather anyone has
>any experience with magnifying viewfinders. The models that
>look very attractive are:
>
>Nikon DA-2
>Action finder.
>
>Nikon DW-3 Waist level finder with a fold-up type viewing hood.
>Provides a 5× magnification of the center of the image.
>
>Nikon DW-4
>High magnification finder. Gives 6× magnification.
>
>I am primarily interested in them because I have relatively poor
>eye sight and I would like the viewfinder image to be bigger than
>what it is. Is the brightness decrease associated with the
>magnifications very significant? That is, do any of these
>viewfinders make it easier to focus/examine the image, or are
>they all for some narrow specialized purposes?

The latter...;-)
BTW, if you have an age-related eye-focus problem,
you may find interesting my article "On 4-way Glasses",
which describes a solution I found useful...
The DA-2 (like the HP finder relative to the standard
F3 finder [with which one can still see the whole
field...], but more so...) actually reduces magnification
of the image while increasing the eyepiece size and
eye-relief; the WL finder with magnifier provides about
the same magnification as the standard prism; the DW-4
privides slightly higher magnification, but at the cost
of not being able to see the whole field with glasses.
The WL and DW-4 also make shooting verticals mighty
awkward. There is a Nikon flip-down 2X magnifier
available that directly fits the standard prism eyepiece,
or the HP with an adapter...