Kalart beam splitter problem :(

[eumenius]

Dear friends,
first of all, thank you for your comprehensive reply! I think that the sticky tape thing won't do in my case because of my sense of beautiful - believe me, I would not be able to sleep if I know that there's a piece of tape glued over optical surface Edmund Scientific mirror, mentioned on Graflex site, sounds OK - I can cut a piece of needed dimensions, but again I'm in trouble To order it, I should transfer the money somehow to EdSci, not an easy thing. Or I should ask someone to buy it for me and to send it here, paiyng him via Western Union and losing some 20% of total price. I will try first one thing: unless I'm mistaken, one of FED rangefinders definitely contains a half-silvered beam splitter element, so if it's big enough why not ask my friend camera repairman? He would know it for sure, maybe I can get hands on one.

As for re-silvering on order, first of all, I should master the process first - I love to do my job and be completely sure of the result, especially when it's a serious thing used by others

Thanks again,
Zhenya

[medform-norm]

I think that the sticky tape thing won't do in my case because of my sense of beautiful - believe me, I would not be able to sleep if I know that there's a piece of tape glued over optical surface

Thanks again,
Zhenya

Zhenya, I forgot you are a person who cares deeply about the cosmetics of your gear. Suddenly I remember some months ago you didn't want to take off the leatherette of a Voigtländer Vito to get to the shutter. Instead you wanted to tackle the problem from the inside (which seemed impossible to me). Whatever happened to your Vito project anyway?

Recutting beam splitter glass from another camera is worth a try - but take extreme care. This is very fragile stuff and you can easily damage the layer that does the beam splitting as well as break the glass. Good luck, Norm

[eumenius]

Hi Norm,

yep, I really care about the cosmetics - some years of camera repair for people taught me in some ways I love clean and carefully made and repaired cameras, so a piece of tape in viewfinder scares the hell out of me

My Vito works fine now - I had to disassemble it quite seriously, I wonder why the mechanics of it are so complicated! It's okay for Germans, too - if we take Leica's focal plane shutter... There's one big obstacle - a need of special key to unscrew the retaining ring, but I did overcome it somehow, then filed there two regular slots. Damn, I hate such land mines

I am sure that the FED mirror should be about the right size or even a bit smaller - but I can't exclude the opportunity to ask friends to buy the glass from Edmund for me. I got a diamond pen and skilled hands, so cutting it would be not a problem for me - after all, I was cutting 18*24 cm glass photo plates for two years, making plenty of 6*9 from them for our electron microscope

Cheers,
Zhenya

Zhenya, I forgot you are a person who cares deeply about the cosmetics of your gear. Suddenly I remember some months ago you didn't want to take off the leatherette of a Voigtländer Vito to get to the shutter. Instead you wanted to tackle the problem from the inside (which seemed impossible to me). Whatever happened to your Vito project anyway?

Recutting beam splitter glass from another camera is worth a try - but take extreme care. This is very fragile stuff and you can easily damage the layer that does the beam splitting as well as break the glass. Good luck, Norm

[medform-norm]

a piece of tape in viewfinder scares the hell out of me

well, you wouldn't actually *see* the piece of tape and it wouldn't be in the viewfinder but on the beam splitter itself. But for you, *knowing* it is in there must be hard enough. We do lots of repairs too, but mostly for functional purposes, good cosmetics are not going to make the pictures better. A very German point of view.

Glad to hear you got the better of the Vito. Having fun with it? It's a really nice little camera. My dad had one and used it until he died in the nineties. Made some very beautiful shots with it too! Great lens, the little Skopar. How's yours?

Regards, Norm

[eumenius]

Thanks, Norm! The very knowledge about the tape inside will make me shudder... and I'm somehow German too, to be precise, a German Jew aus Stuttgart My ancestors left for Moscow in 1908, so it was about being between hammer and anvil I like practical approach, but the tool should be and look nice

Vito is a real fun with its tiny Color-Scopar, and the exposure meter still works! MAybe Gossen did it for Voigthlaender?

Cheers,
Zhenya

[medform-norm]

Thanks, Norm! The very knowledge about the tape inside will make me shudder... and I'm somehow German too, to be precise, a German Jew aus Stuttgart My ancestors left for Moscow in 1908, so it was about being between hammer and anvil I like practical approach, but the tool should be and look nice

Vito is a real fun with its tiny Color-Scopar, and the exposure meter still works! MAybe Gossen did it for Voigthlaender?

Cheers,
Zhenya

It appears as though someone has taken my idea for repairing beam splitters to eBay to make some petty cash. Oh well, good luck to him! All that effort to make 5$. And I don't think he's going to send millions of them either.