Nikon SP Original RF Patch

Hey Nate, I am feeling your pain over your SP VF situation and the expense you put into trying to get it 'right'. I loved my SP-2005 VF in everything -- especially its build, size and ergonomics -- but not in tricky lower light conditions. If I could have a modern MP VF -- no, make it a MP-3's VF -- in a black SP-2005, I'd buy one in a NY second!

Anyway just wanted to express my sympathy at what must be a very frustrating situation.

Thomas
 
thomasw_ said:
Hey Nate, I am feeling your pain over your SP VF situation and the expense you put into trying to get it 'right'. I loved my SP-2005 VF in everything -- especially its build, size and ergonomics -- but not in tricky lower light conditions. If I could have a modern MP VF -- no, make it a MP-3's VF -- in a black SP-2005, I'd buy one in a NY second!

Anyway just wanted to express my sympathy at what must be a very frustrating situation.

Thomas
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Thanks. The unfortunate thing is I'm very happy with the SP 2005 finder. I've seen plenty of original SP finders with great contrast, the black one I missed out on that goliath ended up with was at least as good as my reissue.

I figured this finder would never be great, but thought it might be useable after a cleaning. It's still not, but now I'm $300 lighter in my pocket.
 
I figured this finder would never be great, but thought it might be useable after a cleaning. It's still not, but now I'm $300 lighter in my pocket.[/quote]

Nate, I have a SP with 2 issues: 1 - the 135 framelines do not come up when I turn to them & 2 - the rangefinder patch is not very useable in low light. I was going to send it off for a CLA but after reading this thread I feel rather discouraged about the outcome. The camera looks like it hasn't seen much use over the years. In fact it more than likely was a shelf queen. This is my 1st experience with Nikon RF's & so far it hasn't been a very good one. I used Nikon SLR's exclusively for many years until I bought a M2 a couple of years ago. I sold the M2 to purchase the SP & now I have to make it work if I want to make photo's with a RF. :bang:
 
mynikonf2 said:
Nate, I have a SP with 2 issues: 1 - the 135 framelines do not come up when I turn to them & 2 - the rangefinder patch is not very useable in low light. I was going to send it off for a CLA but after reading this thread I feel rather discouraged about the outcome. The camera looks like it hasn't seen much use over the years. In fact it more than likely was a shelf queen. This is my 1st experience with Nikon RF's & so far it hasn't been a very good one. I used Nikon SLR's exclusively for many years until I bought a M2 a couple of years ago. I sold the M2 to purchase the SP & now I have to make it work if I want to make photo's with a RF. :bang:
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I have no idea who to recommend you send it to, but I can recommend against Pete Smith. Most likely a CLA won't make your finder more usable, but there's always a chance. I'm sure a competent technician could get your 135 lines working again.

It seems the nicer condition the SP the worse the finder. The most beat up SP I've ever seen had a spectacular finder.
 
Mister E said:
I have no idea who to recommend you send it to, but I can recommend against Pete Smith. Most likely a CLA won't make your finder more usable, but there's always a chance. I'm sure a competent technician could get your 135 lines working again.

It seems the nicer condition the SP the worse the finder. The most beat up SP I've ever seen had a spectacular finder.
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Isn't that odd, I guess the beat up SP's were used more so the owner had it CLA'd more often. The shelf queens just sat there & faded away. 😡 Someone mentioned Shintaro. Is that someone to send it to?
 
mynikonf2 said:
Isn't that odd, I guess the beat up SP's were used more so the owner had it CLA'd more often. The shelf queens just sat there & faded away. 😡 Someone mentioned Shintaro. Is that someone to send it to?
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Yeah, I don't know if it was the chicken or the egg. Were they not used much because of the dim finder or did their finder dim because of a lack of use?

My SP has a big blob of fungus inside of it. If I could get to it to clean it off, which seems to not be possible then it would be much brighter I'm sure.
 
mynikonf2 said:
Oh, I forgot to ask about your S2 that you have for sale. How is the patch in that camera?
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It's great. Jon's seen it to so he can chime in. It's one of the brightest I've seen. I have 4 S2s and this one is tied or even a bit better than the best of the other 3. It does have a darkish spot in it. I can't really describe it, but it doesn't interfere with the focus at all. Maybe Jon can elaborate his thoughts.

I'm sure you'd like it. If you interested let me know. If you aren't looking for a 50 I'm fine with selling it without the lens and lowering the price!
 
mynikonf2 said:
Nate, I have a SP with 2 issues: 1 - the 135 framelines do not come up when I turn to them & 2 - the rangefinder patch is not very useable in low light.
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It should be an easy fix to get the 135 framelines to show. My guess is that a small adjustment in the position of the frameline selector dial would do it. Not sure about the rangefinder patch though.
 
Mister E said:
It's great. Jon's seen it to so he can chime in. It's one of the brightest I've seen. I have 4 S2s and this one is tied or even a bit better than the best of the other 3. It does have a darkish spot in it. I can't really describe it, but it doesn't interfere with the focus at all. Maybe Jon can elaborate his thoughts.

I'm sure you'd like it. If you interested let me know. If you aren't looking for a 50 I'm fine with selling it without the lens and lowering the price!
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Nate's S2 in the classifieds has an excellent focus patch. One of the best I've seen on an S2. The darkish spot in the patch is probably due to a bit of gunk on the back of the half mirror. Can probably be cleaned, but is tricky access and probably not worth the hassle since the focus patch is already so good.
 
jonmanjiro said:
Nate's S2 in the classifieds has an excellent focus patch. One of the best I've seen on an S2. The darkish spot in the patch is probably due to a bit of gunk on the back of the half mirror. Can probably be cleaned, but is tricky access and probably not worth the hassle since the focus patch is already so good.
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Thanks for chiming in Jon.
 
Revisiting this thread three months later...

After recently cleaning and bringing back to life several SP and S2 finders with faded patches, I'm now of the opinion that the main cause of faded patches is dirty or fogged half mirrors (the little triangular prism that sits behind the small RF window). It doesn't take much crud on the half mirror to drastically reduce RF patch contrast, and cleaning it makes a huge difference.
 
Yes but a little note to interested tinkerers : never ever remove that triangular prism (which is held in place by a set of small glued screws) to get access to their rear sides in order to clean them. If you do so, you're in for quite a nightmare to get that prism back in its proper position (which guarantees the rangefinder calibration linearity).

So, only solution is to carefully clean the rear fogged or dirty sides of that prism with a piece of paper towel soaked in optical cleaning fluid and wrapped around a wood dental pick introduced from the front of the camera - very little space there ! Several turns of gentle cleaning are mandatory and one side of the prism is nearly impossible to reach even if you remove both the top cover and front plate.

On the secondary 28-35 VF side : it's possible to clean it 100% but as Jonmanjiro said the toughest part is to clean the rear reversed prisms which are to be unglued, cleaned (four sides), and carefully glued back in their housing.

On one of my SPs, it worked great ; on the other one, that prism suddenly broke when I was adjusting it while reassembling (it has to be centered so that the viewing image is not tilted or cut out).

Most common problems with the secondary VF are black paint debris from aged light baffling paint, and a good blast of compressed air is the only thing to do there. If that VF is fogged, don't try to clean the rear prisms and live with that.

Most of the secondary 28-35 VFs that I have peeped through were quite dirty so this is the actual weakness of the SP.
 
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