Konica AUTO S3 - Removing the top and cleaning the glass/VF

[Muju79]

Hi!
I was wondering whether anyone here would be so kind to guide me a bit in removing the top plate and cleaning the VF...I've got an S3 in perfect shape, just needs some dust off!

This is what I've found on the net so far but it still doesn't make me feel confident enough to try.

http://feuerbacher.de/Mick/photo/repair/KonicaAutoS3/KonicaAutoS3.html

Any other tip/suggestion/guide?
Anything to absolutely avoid?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ranchu]

Use a rubber pad or glove to uscrew the screw holding the advance lever on, push down and turn counter clockwise while holding the lever in the closed position. Remember what side of the washers are up, take off the lever. Take off the ring with the two notches with a small needlenose plier, file the tips of the plier if it doesn't fit. I think it comes off counter clockwise.

Open the back, stick a bamboo skewer into the slot in the rewind shaft inside the camera, flip out the crank and turn the crank counter clockwise while keeping the shaft from turning with the skewer. Only until it's loose, then fold the crank back in and finish taking the knob off while holding the crank in. You want to keep it together. Set it aside gently.

Don't close the back, you won't be able to get it open with the crank. Take out the screw beside the crank shaft.

You can pull off the top, but the wire to the hot shoe will keep it tethered, don't yank on it. Put the crank knob back on the crank while holding it together and holding it from below inside the camera, just finger tight. This is so you can get the back open, close the back. Put the top, still connected to the wire, on a block of wood or something, placed behind the camera so the top isn't hanging by the wire.

Take off the black paper and clean the easily available glass surfaces. You don't need to take out the RF assembly like the person in your link. I don't clean the eyeball side of the 45 degree angle piece of glass, or the little mirror, or the jibber jabber of optics between them, you shouldn't either. Every thing else I use NEW 90% isopropyl alcohol, q-tips, and a rocket blower. You really want to avoid the meter needle on the front of the RF mech, you don't need to clean anything around that.

Reverse all steps, remember to avoid closing the back while you have the rewind knob off the shaft.

This was written from memory, I'm sorry if there are things I forgot. Good luck, take your time, and don't overtighten when putting it back together. The strap lugs stay on the top.

 

[Ranchu]

Oh, the shutter button will come out when you take off the top. It has to be aligned a certain way or the top won't go back on. Don't force it. It's sometimes easier to put it in the hole in the top with the top held upside down, and bring the body down on to the top, so the button stays where it should be.

 

[Muju79]

Great! Thanks a lot!

 

[Ranchu]

You're welcome!

 

[Ranchu]

Take off the ring with the two notches with a small needlenose plier, file the tips of the plier if it doesn't fit. I think it comes off counter clockwise.

Sorry, I made an error here, the ring just pulls off like a washer. It doesn't need to be unscrewed, so you won't need the plier.

 

[gma]

Sorry, I made an error here, the ring just pulls off like a washer. It doesn't need to be unscrewed, so you won't need the plier.

Are you sure? I had the top cover off mine at the weekend and the ring you're referring to (on top of the film advance shaft) was threaded and screwed onto the shaft.

 

[Ranchu]

Now I'm not sure, thanks for the input.

 

[KoNickon]

Resurrecting an old thread here. I thought I'd add a little more to the tips above. I recently removed the top cover of my Auto S3 to clean some bad haze in the viewfinder. Removal of the top cover is more or less as described above, and pleasantly easy actually. As it says in #2 above, be careful not to let the rewind crank assembly come apart -- keep the screw in place when you lift the assembly off the camera. It was unexpected to have it come apart in my hands (5 pieces) and took a bit of an educated guess to figure out how the parts go back together. I can add more detail if someone wants to know.

Also, the screw that secures it to the fork inside is short, so reattaching the assembly may take more than one try -- and there's a small brass washer between the assembly and the top cover that can easily get drift out of place when trying to reattach the assembly.

Inside the top cover, you'll need to remove a tiny screw toward the front of the camera, which holds in place the black paper covering the viewfinder assembly. You can't get the paper out of the way to clean the VF surfaces without removing this screw. It's tricky putting that screw back in place once you've cleaned the glass, so be very careful to keep it from dropping inside the lens assembly. And you will need a very small Phillips head screwdriver. This might be the most nerve-wracking part of the whole process.

My S3 was actually quite usable even with the haze, but having cleaned the inside surfaces it's really a joy to look through the finder. It's a short RF baseline but very easy to get precise focus. I took a chance and cleaned the semi-silvered surface also, unlike Ranchu, but it made a difference to do so. A very light touch is called for. Also be sure to clean the other accessible surfaces -- the curved glass surface at the front of the viewfinder, the front of the angled glass (i.e. the other side of the semi-silvered surface), and the inside of the eyepiece. All are easily accessible once the paper is moved out of the way.

In reinstalling the wind lever, there's an angled metal piece that goes between the locking ring and the wind crank itself -- note that the longer end of this piece goes under the lever. Don't overtighten the screw holding the lever in place; it shouldn't back off with use.

I'm not sure I've even put a roll of film through this camera, and I've had it for years. If I did, it was a long time ago. The camera's reputation precedes it, especially the lens's. Stephen has a nice writeup in his classic camera profiles at cameraquest.com. So I've got most of a roll done and am looking forward to the results.