cleaning P&S viewfinders

[msbarnes]

There are some P&S that interest me but viewfinder clarity is important to me.

I was looking for a ricoh gr1, i saw one on ebay that had a hazy viewfinder and so I passed. Then that got me thinking, how often do these haze up? and are they easy to service/ get cleaned? I know a lot of people clean their mechanical rangefinder viewfinders and with SLR's the mirrors can be cleaned. I tend to prefer mechanical cameras for this reason: they are usually easy to get serviced and replaced (well, not all mechanical cameras...Leica...)

If it matters by camera, these are the ones that interest me:
Hexar AF (I own, but VF is fine)
Ricoh GR1
Nikon 35Ti, 28Ti
Contax T2

There are a few other P&S's but those 4/5 interest me the most.

 

[pvdhaar]

Whether or not a viewfinder can be cleaned depends entirely on the cause of the haziness.

Obviously if it's from dust or cigarette smoke, cleaning with alcohol can do the trick.

It becomes more difficult when the haze is caused by fungus. First off, there's a risk of contamination of other glass surfaces such as the internals of the viewfinder and even the camera's lens. Second, some fungi excrete chemicals whose trails on glass can't be removed. Finally there are some materials (like super glue) that give off fumes that etch glass. If the camera has been near those only a spare part replacement will do the job.

Only visual inspection before you buy can help you get an idea about the (im)possibility of a clean-up.