Konica Auto S2 - What a beaut, but faint RF mirror?

[olisones]

Hi all,

I've just got an S2 that I purchased off evilbay. The seller said that it had been serviced recently and I have no reason to not believe him as the shutter/light meter etc seems to be working fine. However, I noticed there was some dust in the rangefinder window - this appears to have come from the leather case which is shedding a fair amount. I took the top panel off and gave it some compressed air which has cleared the dust. However....

As this is my first RF, I have nothing to compare the RF window and yellow square to. This one seems.. faint? I'm not entirely sure how bright the square should be but I'm finding it hard to see. The mirror appears to secure (I know S2's can suffer from this falling off), so I wonder if any S2 owners have any thoughts? Can the square fade over time?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ray*j*gun]

Hi

I'm on my second S2 and they are marvelous cameras. My previous one had a faint patch and I put some blue celluloid over the VF window and it popped big time. I understand that also worked for Nikon S RF's with faint patches. It does cut down the amount of light through the VF but helps focusing.

 

[olisones]

Hi

I'm on my second S2 and they are marvelous cameras. My previous one had a faint patch and I put some blue celluloid over the VF window and it popped big time. I understand that also worked for Nikon S RF's with faint patches. It does cut down the amount of light through the VF but helps focusing.

Thanks!

I realised I hadn't got into the mirror section of the top panel, so I just opened that and gave it a spurt of air, and I think that has improved the patch. Alas my compressed air has run out so when I get some more I'll give it another go to get rid of the some of the harder to move dust. I don't want to touch the mirror or silver.

Oli

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Certainly the advice to approach front surface mirrors with care is generally worth adhering to and one does not want to be overly zealous if cleaning is needed. Having said that the ones fitted to the Auto S2 aren't especially fragile in my experience. If you think it is needed you can gently swab the mirror with a suitable cleaning fluid (it's been a few years, but from memory, I believe I used a little Rosco lens cleaning fluid, some lens tissue wadded up and some tweezers). The trick is to be gentle and not touch it more than necessary. You should only need to softly swab across the surface a couple of times to make a big improvement. If this doesn't help, then a replacement mirror may be called for. Don't forget to clean the inside and outside of the windows and the beam splitter while you are in there, too, the light has to be able to get in if the RF patch is going to be easy to use. I would rate the Auto S2 viewfinder as one of the better examples installed in a fixed lens rangefinder, which makes me inclined to suggest, from your comments, that there should still be considerable scope for improvement.
Cheers,
Brett