derevaun
focus free
I know this is an excruciatingly common question, so feel free to pass it by. Or...
I just screwed the top back down after a mostly unsuccessful attempt to brighten the rangefinder. I had no trouble getting in and at the RF assembly, and I gave the inside glass on the viewfinder side a gentle cleaning, but it hasn't seemed to brighten the rangefinder patch and aperture scale, which are pretty dim. It's definitely worse than the one on my Yashica GSN, to which I've not done any work.
I avoided both of the angled mirrors, having read enough to get the idea that damaging the reflective surface would be a bad idea
But I'm left wondering: are the mirrors dirty, or is the yellow patch normally that dim? I don't think a previous owner has messed up the surfaces, because the metal cover on the RF housing was still glued down. (On that subject, is it OK to just set that cover back on its tiny posts? I used 2 very small pieces of gaffer's tape to hold it down.)
Thanks for any help!
I just screwed the top back down after a mostly unsuccessful attempt to brighten the rangefinder. I had no trouble getting in and at the RF assembly, and I gave the inside glass on the viewfinder side a gentle cleaning, but it hasn't seemed to brighten the rangefinder patch and aperture scale, which are pretty dim. It's definitely worse than the one on my Yashica GSN, to which I've not done any work.
I avoided both of the angled mirrors, having read enough to get the idea that damaging the reflective surface would be a bad idea
But I'm left wondering: are the mirrors dirty, or is the yellow patch normally that dim? I don't think a previous owner has messed up the surfaces, because the metal cover on the RF housing was still glued down. (On that subject, is it OK to just set that cover back on its tiny posts? I used 2 very small pieces of gaffer's tape to hold it down.)Thanks for any help!
It sounds like the semi-silvered glass is bad, and needs to be replaced. They can just deteriorate. The "light baffle" being set in place with tape should be fine. It keeps stray light from coming into the viewfinder. That in itself is fairly rare once the top plate is back on.