Nikon SP repair/overhaul

[kuhns122]

Looking for a good person to overhaul my Nikon SP. I am in Seattle. Any suggestions?

The rangefinder seems dim as does the bright focus spot in the center. Can this be repaired?

Any comments appreciated!

 

[jonmanjiro]

www.cameraquest.com maybe?

 

[jondotkom]

Funny, I also live in Seattle, and have the same issue!

I acquired an SP for a pretty decent price, but the rangefinder spot is almost non-existent. The techs over at Camera Techs, here in Seattle, told me it is probably a de-silvered prism, and I would have to get a whole new rangefinder assembly.

They did a general cleaning, though. The overall viewfinder contrast is still pretty clear, only the rangefinder spot poses a problem.

 

[Highway 61]

The techs over at Camera Techs, here in Seattle, told me it is probably a de-silvered prism, and I would have to get a whole new rangefinder assembly.

They did a general cleaning, though. The overall viewfinder contrast is still pretty clear, only the rangefinder spot poses a problem.

On the Nikon RF cameras, the "desilvered prism" is sometimes a legend, while the actual problem resides in greasy opaque fog being stuck on the rear side of the RF half-mirrored prism.

This part is very difficult to reach without a full dismantling of the RF assembly, at the risk of having many troubles to realign it properly upon reassembly. This is why the "techs" don't want to fiddle with it, in general.

Yet it can be cleaned without any major disassembly, just by sliding paper strips moistured with lens cleaner fluid between the prism and its metal housing once the camera top cover has been removed. This requires lots of patience and time, because you need to repeat the operation dozens of times before the prism gets as clean as it could be would you have a direct access to this optical surface to clean it the routine way.

I just did this on my classic 1958 Nikon S3 and its RF spot, which was faded and almost unusable in low contrast situations, is now better than most of the Nikon S3 2000 ones I could look through !

For your records, and to get what it's all about, look at this thread and in particular the posts onwards from the #9.

 

[jondotkom]

Great tip! I shall see if I can work-up the courage and give this a try.

Much mahalos!

 

[stevierose]

I would suggest Dave Easterwood

I would suggest Dave Easterwood

I would suggest sending your camera to Dave Easterwood in Chelsea, Michigan. He has been repairing camera since 1973 and is really a master who charges very reasonable prices. He has several storage units full of older camera parts and is frequently able to find a part for a camera for which parts are no longer available. He is very good with old rangefinder cameras. Please see my post about him in the Camera Repair section of this site. (734) 433-2640