M2 finder is black?!

[keytarjunkie]

I picked up my M2 this morning and the viewfinder is completely black! the rangefinder and framelines are still there, but everything else...gone. When I shine a light through the finder it doesn't come out the other side. It was working fine yesterday and I know I didn't drop it or anything. Is there anything I can do?

 

[Dominum]

wow.. some pictures will help?

 

[keytarjunkie]

wow.. some pictures will help?

Pictures of what? The camera looks the exact same, the finder is just black when you look through it. I can try to take some pics of the front of the finder I guess? I don't see how it would help.

 

[antiquark]

Pictures of what? The camera looks the exact same, the finder is just black when you look through it. I can try to take some pics of the front of the finder I guess? I don't see how it would help.

Shine a flashlight and take pics from the same side you're shining the flashlight into. Then any sort of blockage might be visible.

 

[drewbarb]

Sounds like you've just been hit by the dreaded prism separation. The old Canadian balsam glue which held the pieces of the main viewfinder prism together has likely given up the ghost. Unfortunately, this is a difficult and expensive repair. If you search, there are a few folks who will tackle this now. It involves taking the rangefinder apart, cleaning the old glue off with a solvent, and re-gluing it with modern optical adhesives. The good news is that once done it shouldn't ever happen again. Another option is to replace the RF altogether, either with a modern one or an old finder from a donor camera.

Whatever you do, good luck. When you find out exactly, let us know, and what you decide to do about it. Sorry I don't have better news for you. Cheers.

 

[Krzys]

This might help. Try asking this fellow's opinion,

Name CRR Luton Email leica.luton@virgin.net URL http://www.crrluton.co.uk/ Location Camera Repairs & Restoration
5 Downview, 751 Dunstable Road,
Luton LU4 0HP, England
tel: +44 (0) 1582 570395 Info Rangefinder optics re-silvered & repaired along with standard Leica camera repairs

CCR Luton (UK) specifically claim the following on their www site:

Do you have an M2, M3 or M4 with the viewfinder "blacked-out" and do not wish to pay £500 or more to replace the rangefinder? We can re-silver the prism and restore the viewfinder to original condition for a fraction of the cost of a new rangefinder.​

From this site, http://nemeng.com/leica/002be.shtml

 

[Dominum]

Got this from photoentnography.com

Perhaps this is what happened?


M3 Problems
The main problem that the fifty-year old M3 is having these days is balsam separation in the rangefinder. Unlike the minor shutter lubrication issues that are to be expected and can be easily fixed, the rangefinder balsam separation is a major problem.

The M3 rangefinder is a very intricate design using multiple prisms glued together using Canadian balsam glue, made from the resin of pine trees. Unfortunately, as an organic glue it has a finite life span and will degrade. This may show up in the finder either as minor "crazing" or cracking along the edges where two surfaces are glued together. It may look iridiscent or opaque. Basically crazing is the first step towards finder separation. Hold your camera up to the light and look at it from the front (lens side) and make sure all of the edges of the finder frame are complete.

Total prism separation is also possible. In this case, the entire viewfinder will black out, or the rangefinder patch will become invisible or black out. This can happen gradually as the result of crazing, or suddenly due to a strong force (dropping or knocking the camera).

Previously, it was thought that this was the end of the finder and that the only option would be to put in the (much inferior) Leica M6 finder as a replacement. However, several repair places are now offering to repair your M3 finder by regluing and/or resilvering them:

 

[antiquark]

Prism separation thread in flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/leica_m_users/discuss/72157613373588566/

 

[keytarjunkie]

Well this is just great. Thanks for the help guys...I don't have that kind of money to spend but we'll see what happens 🙁

 

[ferider]

Check with Youxin Ye, I believe he does re-glue separated prisms and might be more affordable than others.

 

[Dominum]

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/page10.html

More links for you

 

[payasam]

Drew gave you the bad news correctly.

 

[keytarjunkie]

Well I contacted Youxin Ye, and he has already replied: It will most likely be $140 for the finder repair, and another $100 if I want a CLA. That's not as bad as I thought!

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Youxin does great work. He replaced the beamsplitter in my IIIf early this year and brought the very dead camera back to life.
He stands behind his work and is a great guy. You'll get it back within a very quick, almost alarmingly short time.
Get the CLA while you're at it and take care of the whole camera. Make it all shiny & new (or at least working like new).
Good luck!
Phil Forrest

 

[JohnTF]

+1 on Youxin, have had good results from him, new shutters, LTM & M CLA's, lens cleaning.

Regards, John

 

[tjtc]

I had my black-viewfindered M2 sent to Youxin last month, and it's alive again🙂

 

[michaelshane]

Youxin rebuilt the finder in my M3.He's the man.....

 

[MichaelHarris]

I've fixed a few large format lenses with separation and it was pretty easy. I know you get one mis-aligned but the ones I did were sharp as a tack.

All I did was heat the lens elements slowly in an oven to separate the elements, they just fell apart, and then cool down slowly. Clean the lens, and glue them together with UV curing lens glue from Edmonds Scientific. The glue doesn't cure until you apply UV light so you can position the elements.

 

[drewbarb]

When I last looked into this issue (several years ago) all I remember was that it was hard to find anyone who could or would tackle this repair, and it was probably cost prohibitive. So thanks to the folks who posted some links and actual info about those who do.

It's great news to me that Youxin Ye can repair blacked-out finders. He has done great work for me in the past, and as a regular M3 user it's nice to know he could fix this too, if need be.

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but I've just had exactly the same issue show up with my M2 viewfinder following a knock.

I was wondering what the latest is regarding technicians doing this repair in 2017?