When I bough the Aires Viceroy, I knew the RF patch was a bit on the dim side (no jokes please...) After shooting the first test roll to make sure the rest of the camera was working properly, I plucked up the courage to replace the RF mirror.
- Aires Viceroy
There's very little info online on these cameras, so it was a question of taking my time, being a bit cautious and
gently poking and prodding. Not much chance of finding a spare Viceroy if I messed things up. Getting the top of was pretty easy in the end.
- Topless Viceroy
The old RF mirror didn't put up too much of a fight trying to get it out. Next job was to cut a new piece of mirror to go in. This took several goes before I got a clean break and the right size. I've got two sheets, one is quite purple in colour, one bronze. The purple one gives a really well defined patch, but does impact the overall VF clarity a bit too much. It is also a fraction thinner, so I opted for the bronze mirror. This was probably the most fiddly mirror replacement I've done so far. If I got it to line up vertically, I just couldn't get it to line up horizontally. I checked the channel was clean a few times, did some more poking and prodding but no success. I could get the horizontal alignment close, but not close enough at infinity. So I put it to one side for a while and tried to figure out where the RF mechanism adjustments were and how they worked.
After coming back to it, setting it aside, and coming back to it again (along with a few "words"), all of a sudden it all snapped into place. Vertical alignment was spot on, and the lens and RF patch seemed to agree on where infinity is. A few dobs of enamel secured the mirror and I left it all to set. Refitted the top, tested it out again and all seemed well. Apart from the RF patch being nicely visible with good contrast, the projected frame lines were now much clear too.
- Viewfinder View
A couple of weeks later I went for a meander on the e-bike and shot a roll of Delta. Seems it's all working, focus is spot on. The lens is supposedly a triplet, but I'm pretty sure I can count four reflections, and the sharpness across the frame suggests it's got four elements. Overall I quite like this camera, I just wish they'd tried a bit harder with the winding mechanism - there's no shutter interlock / double exposure prevention or indicator. Still, I am in the habit of framing, opening the camera, then only winding when I'm ready to take the shot.
Some example shots from the roll of Delta, developed in 10 year old (black as) PC-TEA 1+50:
Next job is to do a similar operation on the Braun Gloria.
