At 12:19 4/21/02, Andy Gilbert wrote:
2) OM4 (not Ti) The viewfinder is unusable. This happened after foolishly
letting various members of my family use it with BG2, T32 etc. in the pub
when we were celebrating my mother passing her Degree! Not only did someone
set it to manual, so I got 72 shots of half frame, but I suspect it was
knocked as well. The eyepiece has a blob in the middle, that looks as if an
element of the finder is either broken, or 2 glued elements are becoming
separated. Does this sound familiar? It appears to be in the eyepiece
rather than the prism. No doubt this is a Pro repair, and could be combined
with a CLA & refoam, but some advise on how serious it is would be great,
thanks.
Andy,
I suspect the *thin* piece of flat glass that keeps crudmium out of the
viewfinder optics has shattered. IIRC the OM-3[ti] and OM-4T also have
this thin pane protecting the viewfinder optics. Pressing on it hard while
cleaning it can break it. So can striking the frame around the viewfinder
on a hard surface (dropping the camera on its back onto a table). It's not
part of the optical system in the viewfinder. Look at it carefully under
strong light with a magnifier to see if this small thin pane of glass is
still intact, or if the blob you see is a piece of what's left of it.
Mine (also OM-4) broke into several pieces when I set it down on its back
onto a hardwood desk a little hard. I plucked out the three pieces and
continued using it for a while knowing it would eventually require
repair. Another problem occurred while waiting for a convenient time to
send it in for CLA. Had it replaced along with the other repair and a
CLA. If it is the thin pane of glass, it's not something I would let go
for a long time as crud will creep into the optics.
John H. or Clint can advise about the disassembly required to work on
it. However, **if** it requires removing the top body cap, I recommend
*not* working on it yourself. OM-4 top body cap removal, and especially
getting it back on again is a difficult task best left to guys like John H.
and Clint who know how to do it.
-- John
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