C100: Weird viewfinder issue on 2nd hand C100 Mk II. Is it tampering or natural?

Perkunas

New member
Hi all, registered on the forum finally after getting a C100 Mk II, albeit 2nd hand. Everything has been fun and quality is great. I have a strange issue which I didn't notice until after I started using the view finder, and the seller has no idea what it is (maybe he got it 2nd hand too..).

There are squiggly lines like scratches, and the frame inside looks slightly chipped. How could this happen? Tampering? Does the view finder come off? It doesn't seem to be on the viewfinder glass facing me.

Viewfinder.jpg

The other thing is, I had to bump up noise reduction to 2 on wide DR on the f/4 24-105 lens to get perfect noise free video, is this normal?

I can live with all this, got a decent deal and quality seems to hold up. Just a bit of a distraction. Thanks!
 
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That is very strange looking, it looks as if Termites have taken up residence in your EVF? As long as the screen is not scratched and works okay, guess it doesn't matter. That is weird though. As far as NR, turn it off and do it in post. In camera NR and sharpening are always going to be compromises with little control or finesse. Unless you are going straight to the web within an hour of shooting, it makes little to no sense to use in camera NR.
 
Is that facing with all of the gouges hard plastic or soft foam? Perhaps the VF screen element was replaced and someone had a hard time removing the facing to do the repair or it was a DIY job, more likely?
 
It APPEARS to be hard plastic. I called Canon, and showed them the image, they said it is very weird indeed and some sort of tampering was done.

This doesn't seem to be fungi though, it's not progressing or anything. I used to work in a lab and this just looks like smudges and damage. Wish there was a part # I could buy and replace myself, DIYer since forever =]

Thanks for the input guys.
 
Someone recently paid a little over $700 to replace that part. It didn't look like this though- typical cleaning mistake on that one. It doesn't strike me as cleaning marks here- nothing showing on the projection (?)
 
That's strange, I just picked up a 2nd hand C100 Mark II as well, and it has almost the same squiggly lines in the viewfinder, as well as a strange issue in the bottom right of the viewfinder. Did you ever find out what this is?

_FUJ0906.jpg
 
Oh that looks familiar. Same issues with my C100 Mark II bought new from B & H. First discovered this phenomenon with my JVC GY HD700 back in the day. Freaked out when I first discovered it and thought, somebody is screwing me. Called GG Video where I bought it new, they said yeah that's weird we'll send you out a replacement. The replacement came and it was the exact same. Called back and forth and finally forgot about it and started shooting. Got curious and looked inside my buddy's JVC and same thing. I've seen this on probably 7+ cameras now (4 C100's fresh outta the box) and it just seems to be part of the manufacturing process (I guess). Never had any issues with the JVC or now with my C100. It's like someone got in there with a soldering iron and went crazy slinging around. Anyway, I now how horrible and terrifying it looks, but I wouldn't go off the deep end.
 
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