Can anyone please help me to clean the "foggy" viewfinder of the Fuji GW690III?

[Dan Daniel]

And sometimes tightening a part, or going in that direction, not just the removal direction, can break loose some corrosion or such.

 

[M Carter]

Looking at that part - if nothing else works, can you drill 2 holes in it to get a spanner wrench on it? Not the prettiest repair, but paint it all black when done and it shouldn't be too visible.

 

[Aaron Tan]

I had the same issue with you. (Although I managed to take my top plate off with a later glove wrapped around the shutter release ring and a leatherman wrench).

After cleaning inside front element of the vf I still had fog on the inside back element. If you ever manage to get your top plate off this is what you can do. Soak a q-tip in some acetone based strong nail polish remover and wipe generously several times around the ring of the back element. Wait 5-10 mins. Then take a small lens sucker (I cut one of my spare larger suction cups to fit the element exactly) and it should just spin freely and come out. Then you’ll be able to clean both that back element and the back of the prism.

I didn’t bother glueing the glass back in as it seem to sit in just fine with friction. And I figure it’ll make it easy to clean in the future.

A quick update!: I purchased some pure ammonia and doused the entire shutter release assembly with it a few times and gave it a good half hour to set each time, and even with all the tools I had recently received from Amazon at my disposal, I still couldn't get the damn thing to open! After staring at the GW690III service manual, I hatched a plan to disassemble the camera from the bottom up to get to the rangefinder glass. So, that said, I unscrewed off the bottom plate as well as the plastic piece directly under the front viewfinder, which was a bit tricky as I had to remove the little straight vertical rubber grip to get to the screws. Anyway, I managed to get that plastic part under the viewfinder off. I unscrewed all the screws for the entire top plastic assembly, and while the film advance lever wouldn't let me move said top plastic assembly much, it still gave me just enough wiggle room to get to the front part of the viewfinder (and rear part of the clear plastic in front of the viewfinder of the top front plastic assembly). And Voilà! I managed to insert a rubbing alcohol-doused q-tip that I had 'thinned out' with the clean new pliers I had bought and subsequently gently started cleaning both the inside part of top plastic assembly clear plastic and the front part of the internal viewfinder. I did it all carefully with extreme caution, but at least managed to get that front part extremely clean, to a point where it looks spotless.

Nonetheless, the actual inside of the rangefinder is now the challenge since there's still a bit of residual fog, specifically on the lens nearest to your eye when you unscrew the rear diopter. (It's the side of the lens that's facing inward, of course, with the fog that I can't get to). Since I've now basically given up on ever removing the shutter release assembly, I'm not sure how to clean this. Any thoughts? (I've attached a photo so you can see what I mean.)
View attachment 285631

 

[eli griggs]

Do not bother with store bought rubber stoppers, just buy a used thick base mouse pad and strip the fabric.

This rubbery material is made to stay put and gives a very good grip on glass, etc

If you need some 'reach', cut a small patch of the rubber to fit the freshly cut end of a hardwood dowel, using "E6000" tube glue and when 'cured' try using this to apply EVEN pressure to twist off the optic.

I suggest you buy a full set of these Swiss watchmakers oilers and try applying a tiny amount of acetone/nail polish remover to the Loctite type glued threads and allow that to break the bond.

With the tiny amount of fluid applied with the smaller metal shafted oilers, loss of paint can be minimal and once cleared with the solvent, touched up with some matt acrylic paint from Golden.

Good luck with your repair.

Eli

 

[eli griggs]

https://www.esslinger.com/swiss-micro-spatula-oiler-applicators-individual-oilers/

Sorry, this is the missing link.

Do not bother with store bought rubber stoppers, just buy a used thick base mouse pad and strip the fabric.

This rubbery material is made to stay put and gives a very good grip on glass, etc

If you need some 'reach', cut a small patch of the rubber to fit the freshly cut end of a hardwood dowel, using "E6000" tube glue and when 'cured' try using this to apply EVEN pressure to twist off the optic.

I suggest you buy a full set of these Swiss watchmakers oilers and try applying a tiny amount of acetone/nail polish remover to the Loctite type glued threads and allow that to break the bond.

With the tiny amount of fluid applied with the smaller metal shafted oilers, loss of paint can be minimal and once cleared with the solvent, touched up with some matt acrylic paint from Golden.

Good luck with your repair.

Eli

 

[Scott Micciche]

I had the same issue with you. (Although I managed to take my top plate off with a later glove wrapped around the shutter release ring and a leatherman wrench).

After cleaning inside front element of the vf I still had fog on the inside back element. If you ever manage to get your top plate off this is what you can do. Soak a q-tip in some acetone based strong nail polish remover and wipe generously several times around the ring of the back element. Wait 5-10 mins. Then take a small lens sucker (I cut one of my spare larger suction cups to fit the element exactly) and it should just spin freely and come out. Then you’ll be able to clean both that back element and the back of the prism.

I didn’t bother glueing the glass back in as it seem to sit in just fine with friction. And I figure it’ll make it easy to clean in the future.

View attachment 295608

Not related to the foggy eyepiece issue, but the annoying "sproinnnng" spring is visible in this picture. As the shutter fires it vibrates against the chassis. I've affixed some butyl rubber in an attempt to suppress the noise and it's 50% effective.