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BOB PARKER
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 05:48 pm: | 
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I HAVE A KONICA AUTO REFLEX T INSIDE THE VIEW FINDER GLASS IS CLOUDY HOW DO I CLEAN THIS? |
Haig Hovaness
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 01:53 pm: |
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You should carefully clean the bottom of the focus screen and the viewfinder eyepiece. The eyepiece is easy. The focus screen can be cleaned with lens tissue moistened in lens cleaning fluid and held by tweezers. Tear the tissue and fold it to make a soft bundle of fibers that won't scratch the delicate plastic of the focus screen.
If this cleaning doesn't clear the viewfinder, then it is likely that someone has damaged the focus screen by trying to clean it with a solvent that etched the plastic. You will have to replace the focus screen: a task for a camera repair shop specializing in old Konicas. Since these old SLRs are selling for around $40 on ebay, you might be better off just replacing it. |
Charles Fallis
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 15, 2004 - 05:26 pm: |
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To answer your question, you first have to take the top off of the camera. Just make sure you pay attention to the order the parts came off in so that you can get them all back (it's easy, but taking notes might help with your self-confidence if this is your first time). You'll have to remove the winding lever and the rewind crank. Ideally you use a pencil point spanner to remove the winding lever, but you can make do with a set of dividers or an old pair of needle nosed pliers with the points filed to fit the holes in the retaining screw. To remove the rewind crank, you open the back of the camera, stick a chopstick through the fork, and unscrew the crank. Finger pressure is usually enough for this. once the top is off (be careful not to pull it away too hard and break any wires) you simply use a Q-tip and some distilled water or lens cleaning fluid and you clean the glass. Reassemble and you're done (unless it is the focus screen that is dirty). To get to the focus screen, remove the lens. Inside the camera, above the mirror, is the focus screen. Clean it as the last poster said, though I prefer to use Q-tips. |
Tim Johnsrude
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 02, 2004 - 09:19 pm: |
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I had the same problem with my AR T-1 and T-2. What happened with both of them is the lens cement that attaches the compound viewfinder lens together has aged. It is a substance called Canada balsam and was used in the '60s as a lens element adhesive. As it ages, it gets brittle and yellows. It is tree sap after all. The way I cleaned it was to remove the glass viewfinder eyepiece from the plastic frame (two screws on the bottom of the frame it sits in) after removing the top cover. The balsam was degraded enough where the elements just fell apart. I used Windex and a lot of gentle rubbing with Qtips to get the yuck out. I heard that acetone removes is but I didn't have to use that. Afterwards, I just placed the glass elements back without any adhesive into the plastic frame and tightened the screws. If you must, you can contact Edmunds Optical and get lens adhesive which sets and cures on exposure to UV light (sunlight), but at $18 a bottle I just let the screws in the viewfinder eyepiece frame hold the two pieces together. Keep a soldering iron handy. The leads to the CDS cells may have to be cleaned and resoldered.
Good Luck |
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