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Restore camera prism coating

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Tien Dat Vu

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2026
Messages
3
Location
Vietnam
Format
35mm
Hi, all analogue photographers, I'm a beginner in film photography. I have a big problem with the prism of the camera, having some scratches, unfortunately, I sanded the black coat of the prism without any knowledge. Now I don't know if I can recoat the black coating or just get rid of it, then buy a replacement?? I'm thinking about coating it by spraying or using a black marker pen to cover it back. If anyone has any ideas, please help me out of this mess. I really appreciate it, thank you so much.
 
I'm not sure about the black paint. I had an old Nikon F that the metal housing around the non-meter prism was gone and had been replaced with wide metal tape, sort of like duct tape. It still worked OK.
 
I can't help but i have a nikon f2 eyelevel finder that needs to be cleaned.
I've never been sure what to use to minimize damage to the prism coating.
 
Pictures would help. I'm assuming you're talking about the inside of the prism, how certain glass surfaces are painted matte black. Welcome to Photrio.
 
Welcome to Photrio @Tien Dat Vu ! Sorry to hear about your camera. When posting questions about camera repairs, always be sure to indicate the exact model of camera you're using. Photos of defects also help.
 
Whenever I've had a scratch to repair , regardless of if it's on a cameras prism or the bodywork of my van , I've just dealt with the scratch and not removed everything to start again . :wink:
But I think you know this now ....

When I had a prism off a Bronica ETRSi that had clearly been dropped , as the top was dented ( when I bought it very very cheap ) and had removed a bit of the coating that was visible in the viewfinder.
I covered the missing bit of black with a bit of black ink and it became barely noticeable.
I feel that black paint would have done a better job , but my issue might have been damaged to the glass .
As could yours if you've sanded too hard .
Be sure to mask off well the areas that have to remain clear .

EDIT ; I might be misremembering , this was a good few years ago .
I feel like I might have used one of those silver paint type marker pens , thinking that the outer prism would be better off silvered / aluminium coated .

So instead of looking at a black stripe where the original coating had come off , it's still silver .
Not as bright as the rest but not distracting, and not a large enough area to make a difference.

When you say you've sanded "it" off , do you mean your down to clear glass , or a silvered coating ?
 
Last edited:
Whenever I've had a scratch to repair , regardless of if it's on a cameras prism or the bodywork of my van , I've just dealt with the scratch and not removed everything to start again . :wink:
But I think you know this now ....

When I had a prism off a Bronica ETRSi that had clearly been dropped , as the top was dented ( when I bought it very very cheap ) and had removed a bit of the coating that was visible in the viewfinder.
I covered the missing bit of black with a bit of black ink and it became barely noticeable.
I feel that black paint would have done a better job , but my issue might have been damaged to the glass .
As could yours if you've sanded too hard .
Be sure to mask off well the areas that have to remain clear .

EDIT ; I might be misremembering , this was a good few years ago .
I feel like I might have used one of those silver paint type marker pens , thinking that the outer prism would be better off silvered / aluminium coated .

So instead of looking at a black stripe where the original coating had come off , it's still silver .
Not as bright as the rest but not distracting, and not a large enough area to make a difference.

When you say you've sanded "it" off , do you mean your down to clear glass , or a silvered coating ?

Hi thanks for your solution.
Yes I sanded the black coat off and I could see it completely clear glass, and I used a black marker to repaint it for the first time, it didn't worked cause I painted on the glass surface. The second time, I used silver spray to cover it and it worked "okay" atm. To be honest, that was my experiment with an old film camera, which gave me more experiences to fix cameras so far. Now the camera is used for decoration on my bookshelf ☺️
 
I'm not sure about the black paint. I had an old Nikon F that the metal housing around the non-meter prism was gone and had been replaced with wide metal tape, sort of like duct tape. It still worked OK.

I tried to think about it but I couldn't find the tape near my home, so I used silver spray to sort it out, still works so far
 
Cameras are very difficult at times. Nice decoration is good. Learning about the mechanisms is worth a lot. Keep watching for a working version. 😊
 
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