Fungus somewhere in viewfinder?

[seany65]

I've just received an Agfa Ambi Silette outfit ('57 body, 50mm, 35mm and 90mm), and when the viewfinder cover is closed and I've got my back to my window, the reflection of the window shows up in the piece of glass that is at 45 degrees to the eyepiece window.

I've carefully looked at that reflection with a reversed lens and it seems that there is what looks like fungus on that 45 degree glass.

Is this possible and is it fixable? If so, what sort of cost are we looking at?

I've also examined the lenses while looking through a reversed lens.

I believe the 90mm has a big patch of fungus on the rear element, and the other two lenses look like they could do with a bit of a clean.

For some reason, a previous owner has removed the silica crystals from the bottom of the plastic cases!

 

[zuiko85]

That 45 degree glass is a semi-silvered mirror. Cleaning it would have to be done very, VERY! carefully if the fungus is on the silvered side. It would be too easy to wipe the silvering right off the glass thus rendering the rangefinder patch invisible ( or nearly so).

Just a heads up.

 

[seany65]

Thanks zuiko85.

I suppose it would be too costly to have that bit swapped for one from a different body. I'm thinking if there's fungus on that bit, where else might it be in the viewfinder, is it best to forget the whole thing?

 

[Jake Mongey]

I had Fungus on that mirror in my canon 7, I sent it to aperture in the UK for a CLA and it came back spotless and much brighter

 

[seany65]

Thanks for the info Jake. I suppose it cost quite a lot to do though?

 

[johnnyrod]

You might be seeing tarnishing not fungus on the mirror (beamsplitter), this can be blotchy. Usually if the RF image is good enough to use you would leave well enough alone, as cleaning is as often as not going to ruin the remaining coating. Make sure the RF window(s) are clean, this can make a big difference to the RF patch. Replacing the beamsplitter isn't easy I think in that you need one the right size, physically replacing it should be pretty straightforward as it's just a fixed piece. Cleaning the lenses, that depends on how easy it is to get them apart, and how deep in you need to go to get to the dirt. Fungus on the rear is going to be the worst case, however the rest of the elements may either not be that bad or not worth doing anything about in terms of image quality.

 

[seany65]

Thanks for the info jonnhyrod. I decided to cut my losses and I sent the whole package back and got a refund shortly after posting my previous post.

Would any fungus in the viewfinder not spread? If it can I would be worried about getting to the lens.

 

[johnnyrod]

Yes and no. Not on its own, but its presence suggest poor storage, so it could be elsewhere, along with corrosion, and there could be spores all over, like in the case.