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Bolex rex4 fungus in viewfinder - how to fix?


Lewis Hart

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Hi guys, just picked up a rex4, looks to be running fine but the viewfinder diopter piece at the front appears to have some dirt / spider fungus on the inside of it, cleaned both ends of the glass.

Does anyone have any idea if I can open this up further as there are no screws, there is a small metal clamp on one side it looks like, but it looks to be like either permetntly on or stuck on there, (don't want to damage it)

Or if I can source a replacement from anyone? 

Was thinking of dunking the whole thing into 99% iso prop alcohol or something, but I didn't want to ruin any coatings or leave smears behind that I couldn't get to to remove.

Any advise from you guys here would be amazing.

Also any idea if this is regular 16 or s16? I had a EBM before that came s16, sold it can't remember how the gate looked vs this one.

lewis 

Edited by Lewis Hart
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One of the best ways to deal with glass on fungus, is to place it outside on a sunny day.  Go to the park or some place where you can sit next to the camera on a sunny day. Sit the lens on the ground with the rear element facing up toward the sky. Do this at noon, when the sunlight will shine directly into the lens barrel. Make sure the aperture is open as wide as possible. 1 hour for each side of the lens.

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To do it yourself, you'd need to remove the mask, carefully lift up that split ring, remove the first element, and then undo a lock ring to access the two elements closest to the eyecup. You need a micro suction cup tool, and need to make sure the front/back alignment of each element is not mixed up. 

UV light can retard fungus growth but of course it won't remove the fungus already there. 

If you have fungus in the eyepiece, it may also be in other optics in the viewfinder. It won't affect the film image, but may make focusing more difficult if the viewfinder image is a bit hazy. 

Check the reflex prism for fungus too, as that can affect the film image. 

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10 hours ago, Dom Jaeger said:

To do it yourself, you'd need to remove the mask, carefully lift up that split ring, remove the first element, and then undo a lock ring to access the two elements closest to the eyecup. You need a micro suction cup tool, and need to make sure the front/back alignment of each element is not mixed up. 

UV light can retard fungus growth but of course it won't remove the fungus already there. 

If you have fungus in the eyepiece, it may also be in other optics in the viewfinder. It won't affect the film image, but may make focusing more difficult if the viewfinder image is a bit hazy. 

Check the reflex prism for fungus too, as that can affect the film image. 

Thanks Dom for the reply, to my eye it appears to be on the inside of the front optic, I checked the prism and appears to be relatively clear, all of the grime and fungus is on the diopter / or ocular as Simon put it which is probably what it is called ?

The mask I removed of course easily, but the split ring seems to be very stuck there, do you have any recommendations of how to remove it?

And as you say once you do that, you'll need a micro suction to pull that optic out of the barrel - if I manage to do this, is there a recommended solution to clean the inside with?

 

Thanks ahead and thanks to all that replied. 

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I don’t know what to suggest really, I have special tools and a Zeiss anti-fungus solution that they don’t make anymore. Avoid metal tools near optics. Sometimes I use an ultra-sonic bath to loosen things but once optics are submerged they have to be removed and cleaned, no going back. 

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On 5/11/2022 at 1:40 AM, Dom Jaeger said:

I don’t know what to suggest really, I have special tools and a Zeiss anti-fungus solution that they don’t make anymore. Avoid metal tools near optics. Sometimes I use an ultra-sonic bath to loosen things but once optics are submerged they have to be removed and cleaned, no going back. 

Roger that man, thanks, im gonna send it into a local tech to get it cleaned. cheers for your advise. 

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