Evan Ferrario Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 A small piece of glass infront of the film gate. Now before you go off on me, yes I know I was being stupid. The spring mechanism in the camera wasn't winding right so I had a friend over looking at it. We had the camera all in pieces on my table and I thought, well since it's all takes apart, why not clean the glass. I got some q-tips and rubbing alcohol and began cleaning it. At almost the exact time my friend got the spring working right, I snapped the glass. It was a really thin piece of glass that was infront of the film gate. It was diagonal and I believe it was there to reflect the image into the viewfinder. The viewfinder does not work now so this supports my suspicion. After breaking it, I started to look at the glass and how it was held in. The good news is that the glass can be replaced, it has slots for it to slide into. The bad news is I have no idea how rare or special this glass is. The slots on the camera could take a piece of glass that was slightly bigger or smaller than the one I broke, so I don't need an exact match. I just wanted to know from anyone who knew more about cameras, is this a very specific and special glass. If I was able to find a similar sized and thinness glass, could it be replaced. I thought it looked a lot like the glass that is used to cover slides for microscopes. Also, I have a few broken 8mm cameras lying around, would any of them have glass in them like the one i broke? And lastly, since the glass i suspect was only to reflect the image to the viewfinder, will the camera still work without it? Is there any way to focus without seeing through the lens? Anyways I appeciate any help with the issue. I know I shouldnt of been so careless in the first place. I have been tinkering with this camera for weeks and it seemed like we just had it all working when I went and messed it all up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Montes Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Contact this guy, he might sell you a replacement "pellicle" which is what it's called: http://www.webodoctor.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Mulder Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I've had a couple of crap moments pulling my cameras apart - so I know how you feel... Its a sinking feeling buoyed slightly by the 'excitement' of fixing yourself after the fact :rolleyes: Sounds like its a reflex prism kinda thing like in my Bolexes ... A beam splitting bit of glass, which directs a portion upon reflection and most of the light through to the film itself - The camera will still shoot fine and even have slight more light hitting the film plane (find this out by taking a light meter reading with and then without the broken bit of glass in front of the sensor) - you'll have to focus of the lens markings in the meantime and fashion some sort of parallax viewer - get yer tape measure and third eye out of storage ... I imagine finding a replacement outside of spare parts world of that particular camera would be a hassle - In my experience people don't seem to appreciate the exactness required of camera mods/repair and aren't interested in helping out - if it aint off the shelf, they dont want to know unless you want 500 of them in two weeks but they have to speak to Mr/Mrs Expert on that thing first and they'll ring you back but never do ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck colburn Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 If you leave the pellicle out, you will throw the flange focal depth out of adjustment by appx. 1/3 the thickness of the pellicle. This is bad for wide angle lenses which have a very shallow depth of focus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin jackman Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 i know somebody that repaired a piece of glass in somebodys pathe. a microscope cover slide fit perfectly and was apparently the same thinkness. i wouldnt be surprised if pathe worked them into the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Ferrario Posted April 3, 2007 Author Share Posted April 3, 2007 i know somebody that repaired a piece of glass in somebodys pathe. a microscope cover slide fit perfectly and was apparently the same thinkness. i wouldnt be surprised if pathe worked them into the design. Thanks for the suggestion. When i looked at it after breaking it I thought it looked similar to a slide cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Ducouret Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 On 3/26/2007 at 9:52 PM, Evan Ferrario said: A small piece of glass infront of the film gate. Now before you go off on me, yes I know I was being stupid. The spring mechanism in the camera wasn't winding right so I had a friend over looking at it. We had the camera all in pieces on my table and I thought, well since it's all takes apart, why not clean the glass. I got some q-tips and rubbing alcohol and began cleaning it. At almost the exact time my friend got the spring working right, I snapped the glass. It was a really thin piece of glass that was infront of the film gate. It was diagonal and I believe it was there to reflect the image into the viewfinder. The viewfinder does not work now so this supports my suspicion. After breaking it, I started to look at the glass and how it was held in. The good news is that the glass can be replaced, it has slots for it to slide into. The bad news is I have no idea how rare or special this glass is. The slots on the camera could take a piece of glass that was slightly bigger or smaller than the one I broke, so I don't need an exact match. I just wanted to know from anyone who knew more about cameras, is this a very specific and special glass. If I was able to find a similar sized and thinness glass, could it be replaced. I thought it looked a lot like the glass that is used to cover slides for microscopes. Also, I have a few broken 8mm cameras lying around, would any of them have glass in them like the one i broke? And lastly, since the glass i suspect was only to reflect the image to the viewfinder, will the camera still work without it? Is there any way to focus without seeing through the lens? Anyways I appeciate any help with the issue. I know I shouldnt of been so careless in the first place. I have been tinkering with this camera for weeks and it seemed like we just had it all working when I went and messed it all up again. Hey Evan, Were you ever able to fix your issue? What exactly do you mean when you say the viewfinder wasn't working? Was it not focusing right, the way a reflex viewfinder is supposed to, or was there just no light inside? THanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Dom Jaeger Posted October 10, 2020 Premium Member Share Posted October 10, 2020 The pellicle is a thin piece of glass set at an angle to the film plane, that allows most of the light to pass through to the film, while some is reflected to the viewfinder. It works a bit like a beam-splitting prism, but being very thin means it doesn’t introduce aberrations like a prism does. If the pellicle is broken, the viewfinder has no image to transmit to the eyepiece, so it will just look dark. A slide cover glass can work as a replacement, as mentioned, as long as the dimensions are similar, but getting the angle exactly right can be tricky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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