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In Reply to: Nikon FE2 disintegrated mirror foam posted by Phillip Bourner on August 28, 2004 at 07:37:46:
The foam acts as both a shock absorber and a light baffle. Light baffle foam turns to sticky goo when cameras are 20 to 30 years old. I believe cleaning up the residue and replacing the foam will cost at least $65-75 per camera if you have a camera repair shop do the job.
Or you can do it yourself if you are steady-handed, have a light touch and patience. Light baffle foam can be purchased from Micro-Tools in different thicknesses for only a few dollars. See http://www.micro-tools.com/ and look under restoration supplies. I would phone Micro-Tools and ask them for the correct thickness for your specific cameras. Phone 800.359.2878 Some of the light baffle foam they sell is self-adhesive, eliminating the need to use glue.
The first tenet is do no harm to your camera. Find yourself a comfortable workspace with good lighting, a magnifying glass (best are the hands-free models), cotton swabs on wooden sticks (NOT Q-Tips on plastic sticks), Ronson lighter fluid, wood toothpicks and a few jewelers' screwdrivers for scraping.
Remember camera mirrors are top-silvered and any friction will remove the silver from the mirror. Dip the cotton swab in Ronson lighter fluid, saturate the residue and clean it off the mirror with a LIGHT touch. Use the same solvent to scrape off old foam where it attached using a jewelers' screwdriver.
Recommended Reading
Light Leak http://www.subclub.org/creative/liteleak.htm
Replacing seals on RB67 Pro-S? http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=001I5i
Medium format light gasket repairs http://people.smu.edu/rmonagha/brongasket.html
: Hello. The foam inside my Nikon FE2, that I guess acts as a shock absorber when the mirror flips up on releasing the shutter, is completely disintegrated. How important is this foam, will I damage the camera if I use it as it is? Is there a substitute material I could use in its place?
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