I've re-foamed and resealed several Nikon film cameras, usually using Jon Goodman's precut kits. One tip he offers, which has proven very useful for me when putting self-adhesive bits of foam into place, is to lick the adhesive side once you've removed the paper backing. That will moisten it and keep it from sticking immediately, which gives you a chance to maneuver the foam into exactly the right place easily. When it dries, it will stick just fine.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I just bought one of the kits from USCamera. I was looking at their guide. Said you can also use rubbing alcohol, water and hand sanitizer. They mentioned hand sanitizer has the longest delay before the adhesive sets. I'm probably going to try that when my kit comes in.
@@bagnomeoh that’s a great tip about the sanitizer. I don’t think that was on there back when I bought my kit. Probably something implemented after covid lol
Excellent! I have a Contax RTSII that’s been needing done for a while now. The mirror bumper is what was worrying me, but it’s not so worrisome now. Thanks 👍
Follow up comment Aly for you and your viewers. The seals just arrived for my F, F2 and F3 from US Camera (super fast shipping) and they are excellent! I was able to remove, clean w/alcohol and install the new mirror bumper and viewfinder seal on the F in just a few minutes. Also, replaced the mirror bumper on the F2. That one had been replaced by the previous owner, but that camera has really loud mirror slap so I checked the density of the US Camera foam vs the previous replacement foam. The US Camera foam is more dense, while still being soft. It feels ‘right’ and I’d use them again for sure . Very high quality product and packaging. Thanks again for sharing this video and US Camera. =)
Thank you for this video. I am just getting into film camera refurbishment and this video and the USCamera reference filled a big blank. Keep doing what you are doing!
Nice to see someone else posting stuff like this! I recently changed my Nikon FM light seals and mirror foam. It was a pain because unfortunately, you have to disassemble part of the camera to remove the focusing screen - so I didn't. Something to consider if you get one!
You did a good job on that.I have cleaned a couple SLR mirrors.Only if they have fingerprints when I get them.I use a soft microfiber cloth and brush very lightly.This is always a last resort.
I recently got around to replace a few mirror bumpers ( I have several Fs). I found that popping out the focusing screen and setting it aside reduces the risk of scratching it while doing the foam replacement. Also with the prism removed, the Nikon would sit nicely upside down on the work table and in this position allows easier access to the old foam, while also facilitating the accurate placement of the replacement foam. After that I took the oppportunity to inspect the focusing screen and blow off any visible dust particles.
Thank you!! I need to do some work on my Minolta XG-1 that will involve removing its lens mount. It never would have occurred to me to look for mirror foam, much less replace it, but having seen this video, you better believe I'll at least be checking its condition as long as I'm working on that part of the camera anyway. You may have just saved me some extra work, or, at worst, an expensive repair.
Hi Aly. Thanks to your video I just finished replacement of the several foams on my F2. Waited for the rest of family fall asleep to have some quiet night time and I took the plunge. Done. Now I just need to choose between TMax or HP5. :-) Cheers. nn/
This video was SO useful! Thanks Aly 🎉 Always refreshing to see women in the craft of film photography. Our youtube videos are so much better 😂. One question, I already got little foam pieces inside, and see them through the finder, but don’t see them in the mirror, they might be tiny but look huge in the finder. How do I clean that? I think the little foam pieces are so old that they are sticky so they are not going with the blower, have a couple of stubborn pieces that won’t go away. How do I remove those without damaging the mirror?
Thanks! I’m so glad it was useful. That makes me happy. Yes I’m always excited to see women in the community and especially in the TH-cam community. That’s a hard one because it is so easy to scratch the mirror. If it was me I would try lens cleaner on a soft micro fiber cloth or lens cloth and see if that would help it gently wipe off.
Just ordered seal/bumper kits for my new F, my F2AS and F3HP from US Camera! Thanks for the tip and the well illustrated instructional video! Stay well Aly...
Hi.. might be an idea to shine a strong led light through the eyepiece while in exposing mode B to ensure that no light is leaking past either the new bumper strip or at the sides of the mirror which might happen if the mirror is not fully seating against the viewfinder.
I recently got a Nikon F very similar to this, but the foam in mine broke up considerably more and its all over the mirror. I also just got a Nikon FA today and its foam piece seems to have just started breaking up. But again, got on the mirror. I have a bulb similar to what was shown here, but it seemed to have no effect on the debris in the F. I still have to try it in the FA where it might work. Not sure what to do about the former camera though. Regardless, this has been a very helpful video, Ill refer back to it again when the foam pieces show up in the mail.
Im glad it helped. Once it gets on the mirror, that is so tough because they’re so delicate. You could try one of those sensor cleaning kits but it still risks minor scratches.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley as promised, I have come back for reference and successfully repaired my F. I even got most of the crud off the mirror with a very fine brush. These is still a bit of debris in there, but its entirely usable. WAY better than before. Thanks for making this video. I'll now move on to my FA. It is in better shape, but there are more foam seals and I dont know where they go. So I'll need to find another video for that.
Hey! I have not done the F3 yet. It is on my list though. The bumpers on mine look ok but strong sunlight has been getting in somehow. I think it may be through the viewfinder.
That’s tough because the mirror is so so gentle and easily scratched. I have used a sense of cleaning kit to gently wipe it off with lens cleaner but it’s extremely hard not to scratch it. If it’s not causing any problems I’d leave it.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I used a Pec-Pad wrapped around a Q-tip swab with a couple drops of Pec-12 solution. I very gently wiped across it, then did the same with a dry Pec-Pad immediately. Worked great fortunately; came right off and the mirror looks fine. Phew!
Hey, I would check out my mirror foam replacement video for the canon FTb because that would probably be the most comparable To what you’re looking to do.
Aly's Vintage Camera Alley I just bought the foam for the mirror, I’ll see if that works. There is a very thin piece still in there. Will the alcohol remove it? This happened when I was outside shooting one day and the mirror stuck, when I opened the camera a strip of foam fell to the ground.
Oh yea. Sounds like the previous foam stopped sticking. The alcohol will clean it off. Try to clean it out good so that the new one will stick properly. Be careful not to get it on the mirror. Cover it like I did. It’s so difficult to clean the mirror without scratching it. Good luck. Let me know how it goes or if you have anymore questions
I had to scrape a lot of mine off. But something oil based may work. Kind of like skin barrier stuff that they use in the hospital before placing on a bandage. It’s oily and removes the bandaid glue. I wonder if olive oil on a q-tip would work? Otherwise if it’s not a tone of glue the new foam should sit over it fine. I’ve never had an issue with
Acetone (nail polish remover), lacquer thinner, or naptha (= lighter fluid). Methanol (=wood alcohol)=denature alcohol (not isopropyl) is stronger but can remove paint and melt plastic easily so be careful.
You really just have to use your judgement. You don’t want it to be so thick that the mirror has to push too hard when it slaps up but you also don’t want it so thin that it’s just squishing it. I think I usually go with the 1-1.5mm
hi! thank you for the tutorial. i just replaced my light seal foam on my yashica tl electro x, but i'm scared because i had replaced it last week as well. the problem with last week's replacement was that once i got my roll developed, there was suddenly a large black line horizontal cutting out 1/4 of every photo in my roll. i just replaced last week's strip with an even thinner one just now-- could this be a matter of how thick the foam was?
It could be. If it’s blocking a portion of the square behind the shutter then it will show up in the photo. I’m not familiar with the camera so I can’t say for sure.
Hello This is the foam I used amzn.to/3C5nvhq It comes in different thicknesses for different parts of the camera. For the mirror foam bumper I think the 3mm is fine.
You would have to measure the length using a tape measure. I don’t have an EM so I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But once you have the adhesive, cut out a length of it then trim it to fit your area.
That’s a tricky one. You have to be very careful not to scratch it and they do scratch very easily. What I would do is remove the prism head and focusing screen so you can come in from the top, and if you have one of those air blowers that you use to get lint off film, blow a little bit of air towards the lens opening (with the lens off of course) then if anything is still left on the mirror, I would use a gentle microfiber cloth and gently dust the mirror outward. I hope this helps. I have used Q-tips in the past but these tend to leave behind lint
Follow Aly's advice and use the blower first--that's the gentlest way to clean it. If that doesn't do it, you can indeed use a bit of microfiber cloth--but I would moisten it with a bit of naphtha (lighter fluid for cigarette lighters) as that will dry quickly and leave no residue. (If you use old cameras, a can of lighter fluid is handy to have around for cleaning lots of things--every second hand camera shop I've seen has a can sitting under the counter for removing crud from various places on cameras/lenses.)
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley yeah i have already damaged one pentax camera this way, it wasn't ever the same. the camera i want to fix is a nikon ft2, maybe they don't coat the mirror with the same stuff at nikon, but who can say?
Punk Rachmaninoff yea I honestly just use a microfiber cloth and gently wipe downwards. I just cleaned the dust off my Nikon f mirror this morning with this. No cleaner or anything. Just the cloth and it cleaned it good with no scratches. You just have to be careful not to knock any of the foam off the mirror bumper
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley Yes! On a second take of the video you did indeed remove the old stuff, but I am surprised by how little was left of the old foam, it looked just like little pieces of residue.
If the foam is worn the mirror frame could be hitting harder. This might cause the mirror to slide out of the bracket and catch on the edge. Maybe check the mirror and try sliding it back into the holding tabs. The root problem would be bad foam.
Great video, so much information I needed. Is it also possible to use the self adhesive foam from the craft store to replace the finder rest? Or would that be better done by a prepackaged kit? I'm much more into the DIY options. Thanks so much for doing this video.
Sure just make sure the thickness is correct. If it’s too thick the finder may not click back into place. I’ve been using my own self adhesive foam lately but I’m just so bad at cutting them out straight and correct LOL
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I've just emailed Jon with those kits you reference in your video. What a helpful guy! You are also super helpful btw! He says you have to be very careful with the foam you buy, as much of the stuff from Asia is just garbage that won't last 5 years. Now I'm a bit stand-off-ish. I want the cameras I sell to be useful for decades more. If I can do something so my customers have a long and happy photographic enjoyment of their purchase. I think I'll be going with Jon's kit. I really appreciate these videos you do Aly. I can't stress that enough.
@@JHurrenPhotography thank you! I can’t tell you how much that means to me. It really makes me happy to help people. If you have anymore questions feel free to message me.
Thanks great informative video..soon as current roll of film in my 1971 vintage Nikon Ftn is exposed I will check the mirror bumper and prism seal foam and replace if necessary. What is the name of that foam seal kit you used? Stay well.
So, I was having trouble installing mine into the door channel. It kept twisting on me and having pulled up and stretched it one too many times, it snapped in half. What is the trick to keeping it straight and how straight does the foam need to be in these little channels? Thanks.
Hello. Where did you get the foam? Mine did not twist, but I would try peeling the back off as you place the foam down. The channel it fits into should keep it straight. Hope this helps.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I got them from US Camera. I had a F and a F2 to reseal. The F was fairly easy but when I tried to get the door seal foam in the F2 I just could not keep the little foam strip straight. I was worried that if it was twisted in the channel that it would not seal properly so I kept trying to lift it back out and keep it kind of taught as I laid the foam back down little by little. I got about and inch or less and the strip just ripped in two. I even applied some purell on it to extend the stick time, but in my hurry, I guess I pulled it up one too many times. I took the little backing completely off with that attempt. I guess the sticky parts were grabbing the sides of the channel?
Gunnar Williams oh ok. I don’t have an F2. I haven’t yet done seals for doors. I’m going to soon on my canon FTb. The strip must’ve been very thin that’s why it kept twisting. If you do try to again try tweezers to start it off. And only take the back off as you push the strip into the channel. They usually come with a stick to guide it. Use that after the first initial push with the tweezers. Then slowly pull the back and push it into the channel at the same time. I hope that helps. I will have a video on it soon when I get a kit to do mine. But for now I don’t have any experience with it. I would also message US camera and tell them this happened because they should replace it. Especially since it twisted and fell apart.
Hi Aly! I'm having a mirror-related problem and I'm wondering if you can help. I have a Minolta X-7A and the mirror won't stay down on its own. I can bring it down easily but when I let go it springs back up by itself. Do you have any ideas as to what the problem could be and if I could fix it myself, or if I need to have it sent in somewhere to get it fixed/replaced. Thanks!
Hi Brooke. Unfortunately I have never had a Minolta and I have not learned yet to repair a mirror, but I know you could find someone to help with this on Facebook. There are so many groups especially the vintage camera collectors group, that could probably steer you in the right direction. There are probably even Minolta film cameras pages as well. They would know repairmen. I hope this helps.
Great video. So is the bumper foam in these eBay kits even to spec? It seems awfully thin. Would you be better off with a diy thicker foam padding? Or is that bad for the mirror action? Thanks!
Thanks! They are pretty thin. But I have never had a problem with them. I am actually working on another video where I cut the foam bumper myself using thicker foam. So I will see which is best. I have seen all different sizes from 1mm - 3mm and I think the only difference would be the thicker one would probably take longer to wear down.
Working on a Nikon F the focus screen is removable. Take it out before working on the bumper as the focus screen can easily become contaminated in the process.
I've re-foamed and resealed several Nikon film cameras, usually using Jon Goodman's precut kits. One tip he offers, which has proven very useful for me when putting self-adhesive bits of foam into place, is to lick the adhesive side once you've removed the paper backing. That will moisten it and keep it from sticking immediately, which gives you a chance to maneuver the foam into exactly the right place easily. When it dries, it will stick just fine.
Yes. Great tip. I forgot it in this video but my recent one on resealing my Ricoh 500G I made sure to implement it.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I just bought one of the kits from USCamera. I was looking at their guide. Said you can also use rubbing alcohol, water and hand sanitizer. They mentioned hand sanitizer has the longest delay before the adhesive sets. I'm probably going to try that when my kit comes in.
@@bagnomeoh that’s a great tip about the sanitizer. I don’t think that was on there back when I bought my kit. Probably something implemented after covid lol
Excellent! I have a Contax RTSII that’s been needing done for a while now. The mirror bumper is what was worrying me, but it’s not so worrisome now. Thanks 👍
Follow up comment Aly for you and your viewers. The seals just arrived for my F, F2 and F3 from US Camera (super fast shipping) and they are excellent! I was able to remove, clean w/alcohol and install the new mirror bumper and viewfinder seal on the F in just a few minutes. Also, replaced the mirror bumper on the F2. That one had been replaced by the previous owner, but that camera has really loud mirror slap so I checked the density of the US Camera foam vs the previous replacement foam. The US Camera foam is more dense, while still being soft. It feels ‘right’ and I’d use them again for sure . Very high quality product and packaging. Thanks again for sharing this video and US Camera. =)
Just the video I needed to see before replacing the foam in a body for the first time, thanks!
So glad I could help! Thanks.
Thank you for this video. I am just getting into film camera refurbishment and this video and the USCamera reference filled a big blank. Keep doing what you are doing!
Thanks so much. Glad I helped.
Great video, easy to follow. Going to do my FM2n foam today.
Very instructive video ! I've just been gifted a Canon FTB for my birthday and I feel that your videos will be very useful, thank you so much !
Thank you.
Nice to see someone else posting stuff like this! I recently changed my Nikon FM light seals and mirror foam. It was a pain because unfortunately, you have to disassemble part of the camera to remove the focusing screen - so I didn't. Something to consider if you get one!
Good informative video. Thank You.
Thanks for watching!
You did a good job on that.I have cleaned a couple SLR mirrors.Only if they have fingerprints when I get them.I use a soft microfiber cloth and brush very lightly.This is always a last resort.
thank you so much. Yes I am always apprehensive when I have to clean the mirror.
I recently got around to replace a few mirror bumpers ( I have several Fs). I found that popping out the focusing screen and setting it aside reduces the risk of scratching it while doing the foam replacement. Also with the prism removed, the Nikon would sit nicely upside down on the work table and in this position allows easier access to the old foam, while also facilitating the accurate placement of the replacement foam. After that I took the oppportunity to inspect the focusing screen and blow off any visible dust particles.
That’s a good idea. Thank you
Thank you!! I need to do some work on my Minolta XG-1 that will involve removing its lens mount. It never would have occurred to me to look for mirror foam, much less replace it, but having seen this video, you better believe I'll at least be checking its condition as long as I'm working on that part of the camera anyway. You may have just saved me some extra work, or, at worst, an expensive repair.
Awesome. Yes check all of the light seals. Those are usually rotted out.
Hi Aly. Thanks to your video I just finished replacement of the several foams on my F2. Waited for the rest of family fall asleep to have some quiet night time and I took the plunge. Done. Now I just need to choose between TMax or HP5. :-) Cheers.
nn/
That makes me so happy to hear that I’ve helped! Have fun with your F2. I love that camera.
Thanks. Just watched it, and followed all your steps. It was a piece of cake! New sub 👍👍
Thanks so much. Glad I could help!
This video was SO useful! Thanks Aly 🎉 Always refreshing to see women in the craft of film photography. Our youtube videos are so much better 😂.
One question, I already got little foam pieces inside, and see them through the finder, but don’t see them in the mirror, they might be tiny but look huge in the finder. How do I clean that? I think the little foam pieces are so old that they are sticky so they are not going with the blower, have a couple of stubborn pieces that won’t go away. How do I remove those without damaging the mirror?
Thanks! I’m so glad it was useful. That makes me happy. Yes I’m always excited to see women in the community and especially in the TH-cam community.
That’s a hard one because it is so easy to scratch the mirror. If it was me I would try lens cleaner on a soft micro fiber cloth or lens cloth and see if that would help it gently wipe off.
Thank you for taking the time to respond Ali! Will give a shot to cleaning the mirror and report back 😅
@@tonisplayground of course! I look forward to hearing how it goes
Just ordered seal/bumper kits for my new F, my F2AS and F3HP from US Camera! Thanks for the tip and the well illustrated instructional video! Stay well Aly...
Ron Hipwell thanks so much. Stay well!
Thank you...this really helped.... I have subscribed
Thank you! I’m really glad it helped. That’s all I want
Hi.. might be an idea to shine a strong led light through the eyepiece while in exposing mode B to ensure that no light is leaking past either the new bumper strip or at the sides of the mirror which might happen if the mirror is not fully seating against the viewfinder.
Thanks for the info! Good idea
I recently got a Nikon F very similar to this, but the foam in mine broke up considerably more and its all over the mirror. I also just got a Nikon FA today and its foam piece seems to have just started breaking up. But again, got on the mirror. I have a bulb similar to what was shown here, but it seemed to have no effect on the debris in the F. I still have to try it in the FA where it might work. Not sure what to do about the former camera though.
Regardless, this has been a very helpful video, Ill refer back to it again when the foam pieces show up in the mail.
Im glad it helped. Once it gets on the mirror, that is so tough because they’re so delicate. You could try one of those sensor cleaning kits but it still risks minor scratches.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley as promised, I have come back for reference and successfully repaired my F. I even got most of the crud off the mirror with a very fine brush. These is still a bit of debris in there, but its entirely usable. WAY better than before. Thanks for making this video.
I'll now move on to my FA. It is in better shape, but there are more foam seals and I dont know where they go. So I'll need to find another video for that.
I’m really glad to hear this. Sorry I couldnt help with the FA. I don’t have one myself so I can’t demonstrate it. Hope you can find one that does.
Very clear and helpful. You should do a video on replacing light seals too.
thank you. I will have to do that in the future definitely.
Hi! Thank you for an interesting video. Have you changed bumper on your F3 with two mirrors?
Hey! I have not done the F3 yet. It is on my list though. The bumpers on mine look ok but strong sunlight has been getting in somehow. I think it may be through the viewfinder.
Well done. Well demonstrated. Thanks.
Great video Aly! I've done many re-seals and mirror foam replacement over the years.
What do you think I should do about the faint line of stuck mirror foam on the edge of mirror?
That’s tough because the mirror is so so gentle and easily scratched. I have used a sense of cleaning kit to gently wipe it off with lens cleaner but it’s extremely hard not to scratch it. If it’s not causing any problems I’d leave it.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I used a Pec-Pad wrapped around a Q-tip swab with a couple drops of Pec-12 solution. I very gently wiped across it, then did the same with a dry Pec-Pad immediately. Worked great fortunately; came right off and the mirror looks fine. Phew!
@@Sunslip cool. Good job. I’ll have to remember that
Aly, the reference you give for the bumper replacement foam, Would it work for canon fx?
Hey,
I would check out my mirror foam replacement video for the canon FTb because that would probably be the most comparable To what you’re looking to do.
I the Canon F1 foam easy to replace ? Do you have part numbers?
I have the Canon New F1 and the foam is basically the same as the FTb I post a video replacing. I’m not sure which parts you mean.
Mirror foam came out of my Nikon f2, and now the mirror sticks. Big help thank you
We’re you able to fix it?
Aly's Vintage Camera Alley I just bought the foam for the mirror, I’ll see if that works. There is a very thin piece still in there. Will the alcohol remove it? This happened when I was outside shooting one day and the mirror stuck, when I opened the camera a strip of foam fell to the ground.
Oh yea. Sounds like the previous foam stopped sticking. The alcohol will clean it off. Try to clean it out good so that the new one will stick properly. Be careful not to get it on the mirror. Cover it like I did. It’s so difficult to clean the mirror without scratching it. Good luck. Let me know how it goes or if you have anymore questions
Aly's Vintage Camera Alley will do. Thank you for your help!
I wanted to thank you. I replaced my mirror bumper on my f2sb and the mirror no longer sticks on slower speeds.
What a gem of a video!
Thank you 🙏
Any tips on getting the adhesive off? I've been trying with alcohol for a while but the residue just won't budge :-(
I had to scrape a lot of mine off. But something oil based may work. Kind of like skin barrier stuff that they use in the hospital before placing on a bandage. It’s oily and removes the bandaid glue. I wonder if olive oil on a q-tip would work? Otherwise if it’s not a tone of glue the new foam should sit over it fine. I’ve never had an issue with
Acetone (nail polish remover), lacquer thinner, or naptha (= lighter fluid). Methanol (=wood alcohol)=denature alcohol (not isopropyl) is stronger but can remove paint and melt plastic easily so be careful.
Nice 👍
Thank you
Nice! Great video
Thanks for this! I need to replace the bumper on my SRT101
Jon MacDonald thanks for watching. I hope it helps.
Do you recommend 1mm, 1.5mm or 3mm thickness? I am replacing my mirror bumper on my Konica T3.
You really just have to use your judgement. You don’t want it to be so thick that the mirror has to push too hard when it slaps up but you also don’t want it so thin that it’s just squishing it. I think I usually go with the 1-1.5mm
hi! thank you for the tutorial. i just replaced my light seal foam on my yashica tl electro x, but i'm scared because i had replaced it last week as well. the problem with last week's replacement was that once i got my roll developed, there was suddenly a large black line horizontal cutting out 1/4 of every photo in my roll. i just replaced last week's strip with an even thinner one just now-- could this be a matter of how thick the foam was?
It could be. If it’s blocking a portion of the square behind the shutter then it will show up in the photo. I’m not familiar with the camera so I can’t say for sure.
Hi can you give us the link on where to get the self adhesive foam, i wanna save my camera huhu btw thanks for creating this video!!
Hello
This is the foam I used
amzn.to/3C5nvhq
It comes in different thicknesses for different parts of the camera. For the mirror foam bumper I think the 3mm is fine.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley my camera is Nikon EM, how long would i put for it? Thank you so much. I subscribed to your channel so i dont miss out🥺
Apparently its not available in our country…
Let me see what I can find. What country are you in?
You would have to measure the length using a tape measure. I don’t have an EM so I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But once you have the adhesive, cut out a length of it then trim it to fit your area.
Any advice on how to clean bits of foam on the mirror of a Nikon F?
That’s a tricky one. You have to be very careful not to scratch it and they do scratch very easily. What I would do is remove the prism head and focusing screen so you can come in from the top, and if you have one of those air blowers that you use to get lint off film, blow a little bit of air towards the lens opening (with the lens off of course) then if anything is still left on the mirror, I would use a gentle microfiber cloth and gently dust the mirror outward. I hope this helps. I have used Q-tips in the past but these tend to leave behind lint
Follow Aly's advice and use the blower first--that's the gentlest way to clean it. If that doesn't do it, you can indeed use a bit of microfiber cloth--but I would moisten it with a bit of naphtha (lighter fluid for cigarette lighters) as that will dry quickly and leave no residue. (If you use old cameras, a can of lighter fluid is handy to have around for cleaning lots of things--every second hand camera shop I've seen has a can sitting under the counter for removing crud from various places on cameras/lenses.)
I would also recommend taking out the focus screen 📺 so it doesn’t get crud on it
Great tip. Idk why that didn’t come to my mind when I did this.
how do you clean mirrors, focus screens and mirror boxes without taking any coating off the mirror or blasting a bunch of dust in the prism?
I use lens cleaner and VERY gently wipe the mirror but it is very risky. I’ve read some people use alcohol and a qtip . I haven’t tried it
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley yeah i have already damaged one pentax camera this way, it wasn't ever the same.
the camera i want to fix is a nikon ft2, maybe they don't coat the mirror with the same stuff at nikon, but who can say?
Punk Rachmaninoff yea I honestly just use a microfiber cloth and gently wipe downwards. I just cleaned the dust off my Nikon f mirror this morning with this. No cleaner or anything. Just the cloth and it cleaned it good with no scratches. You just have to be careful not to knock any of the foam off the mirror bumper
Hi Aly,
With the new mirror bumper strip installation, don't you have to remove the old foam (or what's left of it) before installing the new one?
Yes. That’s what I demonstrated in this video
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley Yes! On a second take of the video you did indeed remove the old stuff, but I am surprised by how little was left of the old foam, it looked just like little pieces of residue.
my mirror has been sticking in the up position lately. any recommendations for that?
It could be from your mirror foam. Does it look like it is falling apart?
If the foam is worn the mirror frame could be hitting harder. This might cause the mirror to slide out of the bracket and catch on the edge. Maybe check the mirror and try sliding it back into the holding tabs. The root problem would be bad foam.
Great video, so much information I needed. Is it also possible to use the self adhesive foam from the craft store to replace the finder rest? Or would that be better done by a prepackaged kit? I'm much more into the DIY options. Thanks so much for doing this video.
Sure just make sure the thickness is correct. If it’s too thick the finder may not click back into place. I’ve been using my own self adhesive foam lately but I’m just so bad at cutting them out straight and correct LOL
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I've just emailed Jon with those kits you reference in your video. What a helpful guy! You are also super helpful btw! He says you have to be very careful with the foam you buy, as much of the stuff from Asia is just garbage that won't last 5 years. Now I'm a bit stand-off-ish. I want the cameras I sell to be useful for decades more. If I can do something so my customers have a long and happy photographic enjoyment of their purchase. I think I'll be going with Jon's kit. I really appreciate these videos you do Aly. I can't stress that enough.
@@JHurrenPhotography thank you! I can’t tell you how much that means to me. It really makes me happy to help people. If you have anymore questions feel free to message me.
Thanks great informative video..soon as current roll of film in my 1971 vintage Nikon Ftn is exposed I will check the mirror bumper and prism seal foam and replace if necessary. What is the name of that foam seal kit you used? Stay well.
thomas moje I get it from US Camera on eBay. They have kits for all different SLR cameras. Just search mirror foam kit on eBay
So, I was having trouble installing mine into the door channel. It kept twisting on me and having pulled up and stretched it one too many times, it snapped in half. What is the trick to keeping it straight and how straight does the foam need to be in these little channels? Thanks.
Hello. Where did you get the foam? Mine did not twist, but I would try peeling the back off as you place the foam down. The channel it fits into should keep it straight. Hope this helps.
@@AlysVintageCameraAlley I got them from US Camera. I had a F and a F2 to reseal. The F was fairly easy but when I tried to get the door seal foam in the F2 I just could not keep the little foam strip straight. I was worried that if it was twisted in the channel that it would not seal properly so I kept trying to lift it back out and keep it kind of taught as I laid the foam back down little by little. I got about and inch or less and the strip just ripped in two. I even applied some purell on it to extend the stick time, but in my hurry, I guess I pulled it up one too many times. I took the little backing completely off with that attempt. I guess the sticky parts were grabbing the sides of the channel?
Gunnar Williams oh ok. I don’t have an F2. I haven’t yet done seals for doors. I’m going to soon on my canon FTb. The strip must’ve been very thin that’s why it kept twisting. If you do try to again try tweezers to start it off. And only take the back off as you push the strip into the channel. They usually come with a stick to guide it. Use that after the first initial push with the tweezers. Then slowly pull the back and push it into the channel at the same time. I hope that helps. I will have a video on it soon when I get a kit to do mine. But for now I don’t have any experience with it. I would also message US camera and tell them this happened because they should replace it. Especially since it twisted and fell apart.
Hi Aly! I'm having a mirror-related problem and I'm wondering if you can help. I have a Minolta X-7A and the mirror won't stay down on its own. I can bring it down easily but when I let go it springs back up by itself. Do you have any ideas as to what the problem could be and if I could fix it myself, or if I need to have it sent in somewhere to get it fixed/replaced. Thanks!
Hi Brooke. Unfortunately I have never had a Minolta and I have not learned yet to repair a mirror, but I know you could find someone to help with this on Facebook. There are so many groups especially the vintage camera collectors group, that could probably steer you in the right direction. There are probably even Minolta film cameras pages as well. They would know repairmen. I hope this helps.
Great video. So is the bumper foam in these eBay kits even to spec? It seems awfully thin. Would you be better off with a diy thicker foam padding? Or is that bad for the mirror action? Thanks!
Thanks!
They are pretty thin. But I have never had a problem with them. I am actually working on another video where I cut the foam bumper myself using thicker foam. So I will see which is best. I have seen all different sizes from 1mm - 3mm and I think the only difference would be the thicker one would probably take longer to wear down.
Aly's Vintage Camera Alley, cool. Would love to see a followup video.
Working on a Nikon F the focus screen is removable. Take it out before working on the bumper as the focus screen can easily become contaminated in the process.