Cleaning up an older F

<p>Just pulled my grandfather's F out of a box, looked through the viewfinder, and it looks like someone sprinkled a bunch of dirt in there. What's the "do it yourself" way to clean it up and give it a whirl with some film?</p>

<p>It's very likely the foam bumper for the mirror has disintegrated to bits. Remove the lens and use a bulb blower to clean the particles off the mirror. Then you need to find and install a replacement. It's also possible that the bottom of the prism and/or the top of the focusing screen are dirty. Remove the prism and clean those surfaces. The prism is glass and can be cleaned like a lens. The focusing screen is plastic and scratches easily. Be gentle.</p>

<p>I would suggest that you get a professional to do it for you. It is very very easy to damage the screen. You might also find that there is fungus in the prism. Do you have a Photomic head or a non metering prism?</p>

<p>I would modify Al's procedure above by suggesting that you remove the lens <strong>and</strong> the prism, <strong>and</strong> lift out the focusing screen <strong>before</strong> using a blower bulb to blow out the mirror box.</p>

<p>The curved top surface of the two-piece focusing screen is a glass condenser lens, the flat bottom surface is plastic. The bottom surface can indeed be easily scratched, but it can be cleaned successfully if you are careful. Use a soft brush to very gently and lightly brush away any particles that aren't removed with a puff from the blower bulb. If anything remains stuck to the screen after that, then it's probably best to leave it to someone who is qualified to dismantle and clean the screen surfaces.</p>

<p>If you don't have an instruction manual, you can find a pdf copy here:<br>

http://www.cameramanuals.org/nikon_pdf/nikon_f.pdf</p>

<p>Mirrors can be quite dirty and not visibly affect light transmission; but they can be scratched easily by scrubbing. Sounds like a dirty focus screen. They're glass but you shouldn't scrub them, especially the bottom fresnel surface. The top, curved glass surface can be blown off; if there's dry--not sticky--debris remaining, try a soft brush. I'd not futz with the bottom surface of the prism. If you still have some visible spots, live with them and don't ruin the screen in a fit of OCD. It's about a 50 year-old camera and won't be totally perfect. You can find used screens on eBay(nb F2 and F screens can be swapped). In the end, a spotty screen won't affect your photos at all.</p>

<p>This is all very helpful, thanks. Is there someplace on the web where I might find some pictures/documents showing/describing how to do these things? Youtube?</p>

<p>Just Google "Nikon F manual."</p>