Re: Realist leather removal

[P3D <s.spicer@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Todd Eifert  Memphis TN USA wrote:

>Ok, now if I'm going to clean the viewfinder, I need to carefully remove
>the leather from the bottom.  Anyone have any experience with this.  Also
>what kind of glue, to put it back on?  Hopefully, all this will be of use
>to somebody other than me.
>


I see you are attemting to fix the "yellowed" viewfinder in your Realist
camera. I don't know how far you've got, or what others have told you
(haven't caught up on all my Digests yet), but I thought I would send these
comments.

The viewfinder has two "first-surface mirrors" in it. I replaced both
mirrors in my Realist several years ago (in attempting to clean a
"first-surface" mirror I actually damaged the surface even more).

The small one is accessible from the bottom of the camera as I saw
described on the 3d-list. I have found that it isn't necessary to completly
remove all the leather. In my case, I knew where the screws were from
previous experience, so I only lifted the leatherette at the edge where
necessary. In fact I never glued it down again, as I found it sits quite
flat after the camera has been in the Eveready case for a while. This means
I can get access to the base of the camera again without damaging the
leather.

The large mirror in teh viewfinder is only accessible by removing the
central view finder lens. As I recall this is retained by a ring that
screws in around the lense. Between the ring and the lense there is a mask
that defines the viewfinder image area (this mask isn't square - so put it
back how it was - I've seen Realists with this mask at 90 degrees to what
it should be). Once this plano-concave lens is removed, the larger of the
two viewfinder mirrors can be cleaned or replaced.

As I mentioned, I replaced mine (partly as I damaged them trying to clean
them). I think the mirror is glued into position (well its been 8 years or
so now, so my memory of the detail is fading).

At the time, I sourced new first-surface mirrors from spare parts for a
35mm SLR camera mirror. I had the mirrors for the view-finder and
range-finder cut by a local optometrist.

Hope this helps.
Steve Spicer






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