Small inexpensive 40mm optical viewfinder for Pentax Q

I bought this very compact 40mm viewfinder to use with Pentax Q.
This cost me only USD14 from Chinese Site ToaBoa that is I suppose equivalent to Amazon for China. I see it also on eBay but for selling much more. If it interests you shop around for the best deal.


It weighs next to nothing. Simple black plastic body is pretty robust IMO. Doubt it’s waterproof but it is sealed fairly well otherwise. It just slides into the Q hotshoe with a very low profile so should not be prone to accidentally being knocked off vs higher sitting viewfinders. I don’t see it being broken off the hotshoe any time soon. It provides a good approximation to what you will see shooting with the 01 standard prime lens. You can then turn off the back LCD completely and shoot via the optical viewfinder instead! Conserving batter power as a positive side effect. Shooting this way gives you a Holga-like shooting experience which is a novelty I enjoy. The best reason to get this gadget is for a bright sunny day when the Q’s LCD risks being washed out so an optical viewfinder like this is a nice to have thing in your kitbag.

Optically, it is very basic with good clarity to my eye and bright too. Maybe a little blurry at the very outer edges and that I can see the sides of the viewfinder inside is a small downside  when held really close to the eye. If I can open it up, a bit of flat black paint would help I think.
There is no internal markings to assist you with framing but you can easily make a mental note after using it a few times. Framing is of course dependent also on the subject distance from your lens. It reminds me of the old days of using disposable film cameras. I consider this product probably similar to you DIYing the viewfinder out of such disposable cameras and fitting it to the top of your camera but saving you the manual effort.

For the price I paid I think it’s quite fine. Certainly a very affordable  alternative to the official product or even any other optical viewfinder from Voigtlander or Leica or Sony which I refuse to pay so much for. I will only be using it occasionally at first, but if I find it more useful than expected, I may consider trying one of the more expensive optical viewfinders out there.

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