Fuji X-T1 Ergonomic DYI Improvements by Ronald Grauer

April 14, 2014 Accessories, Fuji, Just for fun, Mirrorless, Tips & Tricks, User Reports 25

Fuji X-T1 Ergonomic DYI Improvements

by Ronald Grauer

2014-1000856

I will not talk to you about the quality of the camera, we all know it’s a good camera with some little problem like every camera has. Of course, I couldn’t do anything about what’s going on inside, but I could do something about 2 of the major problem I’ve found on it:

– The eyecup is to small and not deep enough. Mostly when shooting in bright light. And also after 3 years with the Sony Nex camera (Nex 7 than Nex 6), I missed a bit the left side EVF found on the Nex Camera

– The rear 4 pad, which has been discussed on every single review on the net… Almost a shame to design such a pad.

So If you want to try this little fix, feel free…

For the eyecup I used a Nikon dk-4. But I think most of the wide, round rubber eyecup should fit. Plenty of them on Ebay.

The eyecup is glued on the plastic base from the original Fuji eyecup. Unscrew the 2 screws to remove the Fuji rubber eyecup.

2014-1000872

2014-1000873

2014-1000874

2014-1000875

But you need to use the Sugru material (I have nothing to do with them…!) or any other similar material. Cause just the glue won’t be enough. I’m not a glue expert, but I tried different very good glue, nothing could hold it. The rubber material is a porous material so you need to shape something on top of these 2 elements. And this will make them more homogeneous for the look.

It’s called ”Sugru”, www.sugru.com

I’ve also used this amazing product to customize the rear 4 pad.

It’s made in England.

2014-1000859

You have an hour or so to shape this “king of rubber”. Let it dry for 12 hours and it will keep the shape and have some elasticity. As sugru says, this material sticks to 99% of the material in the world.

It has been awarded as one of the most amazing material invented in the last years…

It cost around 15 euros for 8 little package…

Hope this post will help many other users…

 2014-1000867

I’ll finish by telling you that after all, I’m a passionate photographer.

here is my website link: www.ronaldgrauer.com.

Keep with what you’re doing.

Regards,

Ronald.

Related Articles

25 Comments

  1. Wonderful website Ronald, shows me I have some work to do. I enjoyed all the different series on there, great style, eye for the scene and light, and tasteful retouching…..keep it up!

  3. Ronald, I’ve looked at your pictures and they are just excellent!

    Keep on the good job!

  4. Certainly looks like a compact F eyecup. Nice simple oldfashioned piece of kit, which unscrews a little too easily when you’re carrying the camera over your shoulder.

    Sacrilege to you use it on such a poor viewfinder though. And wouldn’t it have been better if Fuji had designed the much criticized 4-way controller right in the first place? Doesn’t seem like a great challenge.

  5. I think nikon eyecup will fit (18mm diameter like nikon F F2 F3, not nikon dslr which use 22mm diameter screw) it does fit the xpro1. I think it will fit the x-t1

  7. Well done. Good idea to stick something durable onto the 4 way controller buttons, and yes, where do You get the fitting eye cup from?

  8. Just checked out your website….wow. Some of the best work I’ve seen in a long time!

  9. Ronald…just checked out your website and you have some spectacular work. Really, really excellent stuff! Your use of light, composition and PP is just superb. I will be following your work going forward…

  10. You did you not say where you got the big eye-cup, or if it required customization to fit it?

  11. Great idea. I suggest to steve huff to have a camera/ accessoires modding subject in the blogs. I want to mod the grip of every camera. Holding it attached/ strapped to my hand when walking and locking sideways when taking a photo. Press release button to detach. Any way great execution of your idea.

  12. I don’t believe anybody actually like these mirrorless technological underdeveloped toys. I tried this camera on Sunday at CEP Expo. Viewfinder is crap. Even if it shoots miracles, I don’t want it. It is unusable. The same goes to Sony A7 series. All crap. Not even close to DSLRs. Marketing sites about photography make naive people believe these technology is ready, but it’s not. It’s a headache and it’s simply a stealing from those who don’t know better. Shame on you, Steve, for promoting these half-baked products.

    • Vladimir thanks for your comments. I like the x-t1 and certainly don’t feel duped.

    • I have been using EVFs exclusively, coming from almost a decade of SLRs, since 2010. They haven’t hindered me, and in fact I quite prefer them.

  13. I fully understand that someone find the pads hard to press, but I must admit I really like that them. I found both my Panasonic LX3/LX5, GF1, GX1, Olympus E-M5 and Canon S90 among others, frustrating to use because of the easily moved rear dial/pad. I really enjoyed the lock function on the X100. I’m glad I don’t have to lock and unlock the rear buttons/dial all the time, and prefer the hard to press pads. I guess no one will be able to make a camera that suits everyone.

    • Hi, you’re right, no one will be able to make a camera that suits evryone.
      The sugru I’ve added is just 1-2 mm deep, wich makes a huge difference when you press the 4 buttons, but almost not noticeable when handeling the camera. I’ve placed a picture of my hand on the camera in my updated email to Steve…

    • Hi to all,
      I’ve send an updated version of my custom review to Steve about this eyecup, Many of you are writing emails about it. I placed some pictures In the update mail to Steve.
      In the meanwhile, the eyecup I used is the Nikon DK-6 (plenty on Ebay). It’s just the rubber. You need to stick it on the plastic basis of the original Fuji Eyecup.

      Good luck to all of you!

      ron.

Comments are closed.