Topcon Prism Repair - a photo on Flickriver

            I got this old Topcon Auto 100 that was working great except for some degraded foam on the prism that had eaten into the silvered face, making the viewfinder 90% black. The camera isn't really worth resilvering, so I ripped it open to see what I could see. I managed to get it fixed for free, and I'm just as surprised as you are.

Used denatured alcohol to remove the foam, black paint and what was left of the mirror from the damaged facet. Didn't need to be 100% perfect - you only see the center bit.

Carefully removed an optical mirror from a donor Polaroid Captiva SLR using nothing but a hammer and a second hammer.

Cut down the mirror to a little rectangle with my glass cutter (larger chunk of mirror shown here, broken due to the second hammer)

5. 6. Some comparison shots for those wondering why in the heck the prism is mirrored anyway - it's a prism! #4 is shot with no light seal at all, #5 is shot with only electrical tape on that facet and #6 is with the new mirror taped on. As you can see, #5 is usable, but #6 is obviously better.

5 Forgot to take a picture of the taped on mirror because I was so excited that it all seemed to be going so well, but I just electrical taped the mirror onto the prism after super duper cleaning both surfaces.

A view through the completed camera - I didn't realize there was a meter in there before! Neat.

My perfectly working Beseler Topcon Auto 100.

Taken in: United States / New Jersey / Jersey City / Martin Luther King-Bergen (show map)

Taken on: February 11, 2014

Tags:

beseler

topcon

100

slr

35mm

camera

prism

mirror

repair

resilver

resilvering « less

Sets appears in: • Beseler Topcon Auto 100

Groups appears in: • I Shoot Film • Film Photography Podcast more » • Classic Camera Repair & Maintenance « less

Stats: 3,347 views / 5 comments

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