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K-3 Viewfinder brightened by Bernie O'Doherty


Will Montgomery

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Had Bernie O'Doherty do routine maintenance, collimate the Meteor lens and do his "Laserbrightening" on the ground glass for my K-3.

 

What a difference the brightening made! Much easier to focus now. Du-All had widened the viewfinder for Super 16 but I couldn't really see the edge very well. Now I can see the entire Super 16 area clearly.

 

www.super16inc.com

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Had Bernie O'Doherty do routine maintenance, collimate the Meteor lens and do his "Laserbrightening" on the ground glass for my K-3.

 

What a difference the brightening made! Much easier to focus now. Du-All had widened the viewfinder for Super 16 but I couldn't really see the edge very well. Now I can see the entire Super 16 area clearly.

 

www.super16inc.com

 

How can you see the entire Super 16mm area clearly? The K3 has a "light box" that stands in the path of the mirror shutter and viewfinder, this "light box" holds the ground glass and sends info for TTL metering system.

 

The "light box" is only marginally larger than the standard 16mm frame.

 

It isn't an issue about viewfinder masks, etc., The standard "light box" will not cover Super 16mm.

 

Bernie does incredible work with LaserBrighten... But I'm confused about the Super16 thing...

 

Did he modify the light box? Widen it perhaps?

 

SC

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How can you see the entire Super 16mm area clearly? The K3 has a "light box" that stands in the path of the mirror shutter and viewfinder, this "light box" holds the ground glass and sends info for TTL metering system.

 

The "light box" is only marginally larger than the standard 16mm frame.

 

It isn't an issue about viewfinder masks, etc., The standard "light box" will not cover Super 16mm.

 

Bernie does incredible work with LaserBrighten... But I'm confused about the Super16 thing...

 

Did he modify the light box? Widen it perhaps?

 

SC

 

Du-All actually widened the viewfinder, Bernie cleaned up the ground glass for me... can't say with 100% certainty that I see the entire area, but I definitely see more on the right side than the standard version. You say it can only be marginally larger, but it seems like its in the correct proportions for Super 16. Guess I should do some tests to check for real.

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How can you see the entire Super 16mm area clearly? The K3 has a "light box" that stands in the path of the mirror shutter and viewfinder, this "light box" holds the ground glass and sends info for TTL metering system.

 

The "light box" is only marginally larger than the standard 16mm frame.

The " Light box " of K-3 camera. this is optical light stream spreader with ground glass from one side, and

collecting lens from other side. This " light box " included agglutinate two prisms and collecting lens.

That's why, this is complex optical device.

 

I think, the " light box " of K-3 camera can be replace on other ground glass with collecting lens,( you will lost of TTL meter function ), but, all optical factors of collecting lens must be calculated.

From other side, this is operation not cheap and new ground glass will have not low price too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Had Bernie O'Doherty do routine maintenance, collimate the Meteor lens and do his "Laserbrightening" on the ground glass for my K-3.

 

What a difference the brightening made! Much easier to focus now. Du-All had widened the viewfinder for Super 16 but I couldn't really see the edge very well. Now I can see the entire Super 16 area clearly.

 

www.super16inc.com

 

 

I am very interested in what Du-All did with your camera. I just dismantled mine due to collimation issues. I think the previous owner "played" with it as I saw screwdriver marks on many screws. :-(.

 

I took out the lightmeter / groundglass assembly - mine is responsible for the consistent yellow in the viewfinder. Oddly a lot of optics in the K-3 viewfinder system are multicoated (unlike the meteor lens).

In my k-3 they are all crystal clear and bright except for the ground glass which I'm considering sending to Bernie almost immediately.

 

It looks as if the ground glass can handle a Super-16 frame... did they replace yours with a groundglass and lens or did they only remove the "mask" inside the viewfinder tube. And did they go left or did they (Du-All) recenter the elements?

 

Here are some pics.

 

k3ground1.jpg

k3ground2.jpg

k3ground3.jpg

 

 

I'm guessing the adhesives used to hold the prism/reflector yellowed over time.

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I am very interested in what Du-All did with your camera. I just dismantled mine due to collimation issues. I think the previous owner "played" with it as I saw screwdriver marks on many screws. :-(.

 

I took out the lightmeter / groundglass assembly - mine is responsible for the consistent yellow in the viewfinder. Oddly a lot of optics in the K-3 viewfinder system are multicoated (unlike the meteor lens).

In my k-3 they are all crystal clear and bright except for the ground glass which I'm considering sending to Bernie almost immediately.

 

It looks as if the ground glass can handle a Super-16 frame... did they replace yours with a groundglass and lens or did they only remove the "mask" inside the viewfinder tube. And did they go left or did they (Du-All) recenter the elements?

 

Here are some pics.

 

k3ground1.jpg

k3ground2.jpg

k3ground3.jpg

I'm guessing the adhesives used to hold the prism/reflector yellowed over time.

 

Nice shots but the "light box" mounting brackets on the sides of the ground glass are only marginally larger than the typical 10.26mm aperture for 16mm.

 

Unless you can find a way to remove them, you will not get full Super 16mm coverage in your viewfinder regardless if someone modifies your viewfinder mask.

 

You will see a fuzzy light edge on the expanded side of the viewfinder mask but you WILL NOT get a Super 16mm image.

 

If Du-All is re-centering, then you will have two fuzzy edges. One of edge side of your viewfinder image and still WILL NOT see the full Super 16mm aperture properly.

 

I have faith in Bernie. He is honest, hardworking and shoots straight.

 

Du-All is another story... I wouldn't and don't trust them fully (My personal and professional opinion, and YUP, damn proud to be entitled to it...)

 

SC

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Nice shots but the "light box" mounting brackets on the sides of the ground glass are only marginally larger than the typical 10.26mm aperture for 16mm.

 

Unless you can find a way to remove them, you will not get full Super 16mm coverage in your viewfinder regardless if someone modifies your viewfinder mask.

 

You will see a fuzzy light edge on the expanded side of the viewfinder mask but you WILL NOT get a Super 16mm image.

 

If Du-All is re-centering, then you will have two fuzzy edges. One of edge side of your viewfinder image and still WILL NOT see the full Super 16mm aperture properly.

 

I have faith in Bernie. He is honest, hardworking and shoots straight.

 

Du-All is another story... I wouldn't and don't trust them fully (My personal and professional opinion, and YUP, damn proud to be entitled to it...)

 

SC

 

Okay, so what you're saying is the bracket is machined off from the left side and the prizm assembly is not altered? -

 

I'm really curious from an engineering prospective what is done to enlarge the frame on the in the K-3 viewfinder. Optically the viewfinder tube can handle the enlargement in the mask, but it would not make sense to enlarge it on the left side only. The optics vignette/distort the image in the VF a whole lot already.

 

I'm also now pondering if the magnification factor of the VF could be boosted, helps in focusing.

 

P.S. Yes, Bernie is 100% cool! I'm in touch with him about his services.

Edited by Dennis Kisilyov
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I am very interested in what Du-All did with your camera. I just dismantled mine due to collimation issues. I think the previous owner "played" with it as I saw screwdriver marks on many screws. :-(.

 

Du-All worked on it about a year and a half ago. What he told me was he just widened the mask to reveal the S-16 area. It IS wider, but perhaps it doesn't fully cover the S-16 area... can't say for sure. It was only $75 so a can't imagine anything major was done.

 

It does look "off center" if that helps... in other words it does wide into the right (as you look at the viewfinder) and I see it slightly curved on the far right edge.

 

I don't consider this a pro camera, just something for weekend fun. All said I probably have about $700 invested in it so I probably should have just gotten a better camera from the begining but I like the ease of use and smallness of it for handheld work.

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Du-All worked on it about a year and a half ago. What he told me was he just widened the mask to reveal the S-16 area. It IS wider, but perhaps it doesn't fully cover the S-16 area... can't say for sure. It was only $75 so a can't imagine anything major was done.

 

It does look "off center" if that helps... in other words it does wide into the right (as you look at the viewfinder) and I see it slightly curved on the far right edge.

 

I don't consider this a pro camera, just something for weekend fun. All said I probably have about $700 invested in it so I probably should have just gotten a better camera from the begining but I like the ease of use and smallness of it for handheld work.

 

 

Very Cool. Will, thanks for the info.

 

I think K-3 has it's unique properties that make it attractive. I'm surprised it has not become the Honda Civic of the cine camera world.

 

I think the ultimate thing would be if someone posted the gear ratio instruction for installing a motor in the thing.

 

I've just come up with a mod for it myself. - I took out the light meter stuff, and realized that the cavity It has for a battery is not very removable. However usable to install a digital frame counter.

 

I plan on using a pedometer (00000 counter with a reset button) and a mag switch of the main gear (which travels 2 teeth for 1 frame exposed. Installing the pedometer in the hole on the side where the current ISO switch is. Removing the gastly lever footage counter (which is rendered useless by removing the plastic loop formers anyway...) This would also allow use of the K-2 100ft mags, which would make switching film a lot quicker.

 

The coolest upgrade for this camera I think would be a Nikon mount. Nikons have a flange focal distance of

46.50 mm while Pentax is 45.65 / Practica 45.50.

 

This means a Nikon mount can be installed in the front and all it has to do is move about 1mm forward from the film plane. (Canon is shorter - so, more problematic, Arri mount means expensive lenses).

 

Why Nikon.... DSLR's have a smaller crop than 35mm film hence have 7mm lenses, yet interchange with old manual only mounts. Which would mean all the wide-angle stuff would become available for this camera at low f-stops.

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