Parts of a camera - Viewfinder

To continue my post about the parts of a camera. Here we are going to discuss about the viewfinder.

On my Nikon F3, you can actually remove the viewfinder and look at the pentaprism. New DSLRs doesn't have this feature. This is to protect the inside from dust. But older cameras are not built to be as dust resistant so you have the remove it from time to time to clean it.

Here you can see the view finder.
To remove the viewfinder, you pull the two knobs on both sides and slide it forward.

After you slide it forward, just pull up.

Once removed, just set it down.

I normally would not set it down the viewfinder like this since the bottom is a lens which might scratch. I just put it down to show you how it would look like.

This is a view from the top side of the camera. Here you can see a glass that has some grid lines on it. This helps you determine the focus of the lens. You can't see anything clear through it since there is no lens attached.

Here you see a lens attached, you can now clearly see the chandelier on the ceiling.

It's amazing how much you can learn from these old cameras. New cameras are built to be complete none user serviceable.