Olympus Pen FT - need a half-mirror replacement

IloveTLRs · May 9, 2012

Hello all,

I just picked up a Pen FT with lens for a stupidly-cheap price - the meter is even working and accurate
However, the half-mirror is in poor condition (which seems to be a not-uncommon problem.) Focus is not impossible, but the viewfinder appears "hazy" and makes use in the dark annoying and time-consuming. A friend and I have a parts FT and tried some shiny adhesive tape from a car supply shop on another ruined half-mirror, but it doesn't work all that well. Is it possible to source just the mirror itself? I'm aware of an Olympus repairman on the East Coast of the US, does he supply parts-only?

Thank you for any help!

illumiquest · May 9, 2012

cut your own mirror?

IloveTLRs · May 10, 2012

Cut my own ... sounds a bit difficult. A half-mirror and regular mirror are different, are they not?

removed account4 · May 10, 2012

IloveTLRs said:
Cut my own ... sounds a bit difficult. A half-mirror and regular mirror are different, are they not?

hi

i was in a jam a while back
and someone suggested mirror from
a doll shop. it is thin and on some sort
of backing that can be cut with household scissors.
i never followed through in the end and brought the camera to a repair-guy,
so i can't tell you if it works or not ...

good luck !
(great camera!!)
john

John Koehrer · May 10, 2012

Edmund scientific? I needed a semi-silvered mirror for one project or another and googled semi-silver mirror. Bought one slightly oversize & trimmed it with a diamond cutting disc on the Dremel.
The mirror came with a protective plastic on the mirrored side so it could be safely handled.

John Hermanson · May 11, 2012

Most FTs I see have moldy half mirrors. New ones not available, and if a part is rare I don't sell them without a full overhaul attached to it. John

John Hermanson · May 11, 2012

Mirror has to be semi-silvered (lets half the light through) AND front surfaced. John

BetterSense · May 12, 2012

I would like to give up on my half-mirror (I don't believe in meters anyway) and replace my bad half mirror with a regular old fashioned normal mirror. I don't want to risk taking my Pen apart and not being able to get it back together, though. How hard is it to get to the mirror inside?

IloveTLRs · May 12, 2012

Strangely enough, today I happened upon a Pen F labelled as "broken" for $30. I got it working somehow, and the mirror is in perfect condition :confused:

Looking around the internet, Dead Link Removed. The website is in Japanese only, but they sell FT and FV mirrors separately for 6,000 yen which is about USD $75. There are also numerous other Pen parts (pictured on the website.) I am not sure if they ship internationally.

BetterSense said:
... How hard is it to get to the mirror inside?

I have minor experience popping the hood of both the F and FT (over the past week.) I've attached pictures I took of the inside, with labels of the relevant parts.

The F looks relatively simple inside, and the mirror is probably easy to remove.

The FT ... not so much. Looking at the picture, the FT's half-mirror and light meter are kind of joined together , and I honestly didn't want to dig any deeper.

I hope this helps. I got my take-apart instructions from Japanese websites, which have basic picture guides. Googling in English I found almost no information.

BetterSense · May 13, 2012

I intend to throw away the meter, though, so maybe it's not so bad.

It looks like if I can get the top off, it won't be too bad; I just need to come up with a mirror.

Olympus Pen FT - need a half-mirror replacement

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