Cleaning haze in VIOOH

Hi!

 

My VIOOH finder has sufficient haze, which really makes this nice viewfinder useless if any strong light source is in

the frame. I think the problem caused particularly by the haze on the front element.

 

Is it really hard to take VIOOH apart and clean? Are their any instructions for DIY online (I have not found such

instructions with a quick search)? And of course I need tips and opinions of experienced people, who reparied

VIOOH finders.

 

Regards,

 

Georgy

There are instructions in Tomosy's book on Leica Camera Repair.

 

But, getting to the prisms is probably all you have to do. Remove 4 screws on back, remove two screws holding prism assembly. Not exact orientation of prism assembly, location is a bit critical.

 

Clean all clear surfaces. There's no silvering in the prism faces, the reflective surfaces are just clear glass, if dirty they reflect really poorly.

 

The front lenses aren't really very haze prone.

The lenses can get misted up. I have two of these and one was much improved by taking off the cone and cleaning the lenses. But I was unable to shift the grub-screws which locate and hold the cone on, in the other finder. Its easy enough if you have good screw-drivers and if its willing to let you get into it. I agree you should clean the prism, first and see how it looks.

Thank you, guys!

 

As far as I understood, it is rather easy to remove the cone for cleaning the front lens, isn't it?

 

Can I really disadjust something, when cleaning the prism and disassemble the VIOOH from the rear?

George, I don't think it can be disadjusted, as long as you note how it comes apart. Cleaning the prism is straight-forward. The cone, once got to by removing the mask-sizing rings, I found difficult because the grub-screws were hard to move in one finder and impossible in the other. They only need backing out and only 2 of the 3. In fact if one can be left alone it might help locate the cone correctly on re-assembly. Its a while since I did it so don't remember clearly.

I should have said that the 3 grub-screws are evenly spaced around the base of the cone and hidden by the focal-length adjustment assembly. Their points hold the cone on and locate it by being screwed evenly into a circular groove around the outside of a projection of the main body casting.

The VIOOH seems to be prone to hazing so there are a lot of posts on thubject. Fortunately it is REALLY easy to take apart and to get back together (even more importantly as its the latter that normally causes problems.) From memory, take the back off by undoing the retaining screws and you see the main innards - a bunch of prisms and such. These come apart by undoing the (two?) screws visible when the back is removed. Then the main optical assembly comes out to clean the surfaces. Putting the thing back together just involves reversing this. (Sorry if I am being vague as its been a while - but trust me its easy and intuitive.) I found that to reassemble, some larger tweazers helped get everything lined up inside the barrel of the finder so I could get the screws and holes aligned . Usually thats enough but you may need to also disassmble the lenses inside the front barrel . From memory these are held in with screw rings which have to be undone. Again not too hard if a little more fiddly than the rear assembly. Go for it - it save a lot and is one job an amateur can do with confidence.

 

Here is another thread (search Google you will find quite a lot - and those will give you lots of info)

 

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34439