How Can I Remove the Rubber Eyepiece On My Nikon N8008s?

I have a Nikon N8008s w/ a round rubber eyecup on it. It looks like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/37450-REG/Nikon_2925_Finder_Eyepiece_for_FM.html

The eyecup shown may not be exactly like mine, but you get the idea. Just a round donut with, I think, threads. Nikon made about a million different rubber eyecup designs, but this one is the smallest and the simplest.

I thought it would just unscrew, but no go. I would like to get it off and clean inside. It will unscrew about 1/4 of a turn, and then stops. I tried pushing in and turning, pulling out and turning....nothing. Any ideas? The camera came from KEH w/ the eyecup already on it, but I'm pretty sure that the camera eye hole has threads, and this piece just screws on. Thanks.

Yeah, it's just gotten dry, a little out-of-round and gotten itself stubborn. It'll come off. Some of the rubber has deteriorated and gotten itself on the threads.

Tom, you would think so, right? But I wonder. It makes a little noise at some point in the 1/4 rotation, like it's hitting some edge or something. Here's a look at a camera's back w/o the rubber eyepiece, and if you look at the next to the last shot on this seller's ad, and use the little magnification feature, it looks like it has this cut out area on the camera...to release it? I am baffled. It appears that 1/4 turn is all it's ever gonna turn, then it pops off? Mine won't. Not the end of the world, but I would like to get it off.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-N8008...206533505?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item20e090b581

Yeah, that is strange. Never saw anything like that. I'm baffled.

Funny, I can do a CLA on most cameras and lenses, do a pro overhaul on almost any car motor or transmission, but I can't get the *%$#! rubber eyecup off the Nikon.

I just looked at both of my 8008s's and the finder eyepiece easily screws off. In the eBay image above the eyepiece ring is broken showing only a small amount of the lower part of the ring. Perhaps yours is also broken/cracked in a manner that interferes with the eyepiece unscrewing. You probably could get it off by using extra force BUT you may also break the ring so badly that it cannot be repaired or even used with the eyepiece. You can use the camera without the eyepiece, it'll just let all kinds of dust/junk into the top of the camera plus you could scratch any eyeglasses/sunglasses the you may be wearing. I would use caution and try to remove the eyepiece, clean everything, put it back together and don't mess with it again.

You could use a drop of penetrating easing oil (a mixture of oil and graphite ) applied carefully with a Q Tip around the edge of the thread and leave it overnight, then try again, or failing that remove it with a pair of pliers even if it means breaking it, and buy another one.

Screw-in eyepieces can loosen, unscrew, and fall out, often unnoticed until later. Some owners put glue of some sort on the threads and screw the eyepiece in to prevent it from unscrewing. If a permanent adhesive, such as epoxy, is used, removing the eyepiece can be difficult or impossible.

The Nikon eyepiece show in the link in post #1 has a rubber ring bonded to the eyepiece. This isn’t meant to be separated from the metal part.

As described in post #1, it might be that the rubber part is loose on the eyepiece. If so, possibly the rubber ring is turning independently 1/4 turn, but the metal ring beneath is firmly stuck in the camera without rotating.

I’ve encountered this problem on used Nikon cameras and used a Flexiclamp similar to the one shown in the following link. The tool should be chosen with a hole size slightly larger than the ring you want to remove. The part might have to be wrapped with one or more layers of masking tape to take up the excess clearance so that the tool will have a strong grip on the part when the handle is gripped to contract the hole in the Flexiclamp.

Dead Link Removed

Based on the photo in post #3 of the Nikon N8008 eyepiece area (appears to be recessed), there might not be sufficient clearance to use the Flexiclamp to grip the eyepiece.