Ciro-flex E focusing screen

[jedrum]

I just purchased a Ciro-flex (E) and when looking through the viewing hood I saw that it was dirty. I removed the hood and cleaned the mirror with no problem, but when I cleaned the the focusing screen it now looks like it has a wet area in it? I can still see through it but why does it looks wet. Do I need a new focusing screen, and if what size it??????

Eric 

[Charles_Webster]

How did you clean it?

Is there a fresnel pattern on the underside of the screen?

If you got oil on the fresnel side while cleaning it, it will look as if there's a water spot on it.

I wouldn't count on finding a replacement focusing screen, Ciro-Flex went out of business years ago. There was a guy who specialized in Ciro-Flex repairs, but I've lost contact. I'll rummage through my old stuff to see if I can find him.

 

[michael_linn]

I would recommend that you start here:

https://rickoleson-brightscreen.com/

 

Ciro was based here in Delaware, Ohio until going out of business in the 1950's.

 

-Mike

 

[orsetto]

There were two versions of the Ciroflex E: an earlier model with a parallax correction frame in the viewfinder but no fresnel plate under the ground glass, and a later revision that omitted the (ineffective) parallax indicator to make space for a fresnel plate under the ground glass focus screen. On cameras with the latter "sandwich" type of focus screen, cleaning liquid can easily get trapped between the two plates. 

Did you completely remove the screen from the viewing hood, or just remove the hood from the camera and clean the screen while it remained in the hood? If you did not completely remove it, for sure some liquid could be trapped between the fresnel (if there is one) and groundglass. Try taking the glass completely out of the hood for more thorough cleaning and drying: if it separates into two plates, you have the fresnel, if only a ground glass comes out, you don't. 

Note these separate fresnel plates can be extremely difficult to clean without ruining them altogether. They tend to be either filthy or clean when found, if filthy you're better off replacing the screen with something modern than trying to clean it.

As michael_linn suggested above, check the Rick Oleson website for info on screen disassembly and ideas for replacement screens. Rick has specialized in TLR upgrade screens for longer than I can remember. Like other sources, he sells brighter modern one-piece plastic screens with the fresnel molded into the bottom of the screen: since these are thinner you may need to fiddle with spacers or bend the clips to fit the screen in proper position in its frame. 

Awhile back Rick purchased the rights to use a premium screen type unavailable thru other sources, prices for those are higher than for generic Chinese eBay screens. Whether a Ciroflex is worth the cost of a premium screen is another question: for casual use a generic screen might be sufficient.

A visual guide to removing the screen from the hood (and other CiroFlex  parts) can be found at

https://pheugo.com/cameras/index.php?page=ciroflex

Edited March 11, 2023 by orsetto