Olympus 35RC rangefinder patch improvement

[Jumillar]

I'm sure many of you have seen this on the internet before, but it's a quiet Sunday afternoon and thought i'd give it a go. Fairs fair though, as this wasn't my idea here's the link to the original posting. http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-165.html
I thought the contrast on my rangefinder patch was pretty good, but there's always room for improvement. Right?
All you need is a small square of black tape which you place in the centre of your front viewfinder window. Instantaneous improvement (especially in low light).

35RC rangefinder patch by john millar, on Flickr

Olympus 35RC rangefinder patch by john millar, on Flickr

obviously low tack tape would be best so you don't get your viewfinder all gummy

 

[charjohncarter]

I did that on a few of my fixed lens RF cameras. It does work but be careful some of the windows on these cameras are thin plastic and can easily break.

 

[Jumillar]

I did that on a few of my fixed lens RF cameras. It does work but be careful some of the windows on these cameras are thin plastic and can easily break.

Good point Charjohncarter, thanks for making it
John

 

[Jeremy Z]

Image links don't work any more.

 

[charjohncarter]

Basically you put a small rectangle of tape (I used blue masking tape) in the middle of the viewfinder lens.

Petri 7s-k102 by John Carter, on Flickr

 

[Jeremy Z]

Basically you put a small rectangle of tape (I used blue masking tape) in the middle of the viewfinder lens.
Petri 7s-k102 by John Carter, on Flickr

...and the idea is to improve focusing at the expense of being able to see the center part of the viewfinder?

 

[charjohncarter]

I guess so, but it works for ease of focus.

 

[mconnealy]

You can still see the central spot of the viewfinder; it is just dimmed as there is no obstruction of the small rf window. The modification works better on some cameras than others and carefully matching the tape or ink spot to the size and shape of the rf spot can make a difference.
An alternative in some cases is to put some filtering material over the whole large vf window. I did that with my Yashica Lynx-14 using a piece of color negative leader and got considerably better contrast as a result.

 

[charjohncarter]

I meant to get back to this thread, I used a piece of blue gel to cover the whole viewfinder, and it works as well if not better.