Karl Hungus

Slow day at the Walmart, Mercer?

I've only used the C300 II VF a few times outdoors. I wear glasses most of the time, though it's possible I was wearing contacts when looking through the VF, and perhaps oil from eyelashes created this pattern:

Thought perhaps the coating was cracking/spiderizing on it's own. However after cleaning with ROR and microfiber:

It came off. Microfiber is tricky in this small space, it's not perfectly clean. Going to get some optical swabs (vs. q-tips) to carefully (with very little downforce) get the edges and remaining spots. It's not really needed, it's clear enough to use (and was before cleaning, the pattern only showed up at that angle with light hitting it as shown). Since I rarely use the VF:

I agree that it's insane and super not cool to have to pay over $700 to replace the entire VF assembly vs. just being able to replace the outermost element for around $100 (at most). I'd pay Zacuto $1950 (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1242176-REG/zacuto_z_gre_gratical_eye_micro_oled.html) before I'd pay Canon $710 to replace this part (would probably get this package: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1293748-REG/zacuto_z_c3002ergreb_c300_mark_ii_gratical.html).
Photos with 1DX II (will post some production info for video soon).

Quoted from: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?354171-C300-Mark-II-viewfinder-coating-all-screwed-up-u

"... I have to say that that is just F'n ridiculous. Even for Canon... That was just poor engineering. That should be an easily(user) replaceable service part that is $50-$75 max."

Right. And if Canon engineering puts a coating on a viewfinder I would never expect it to flake off with just one light cleaning.

And as I've said: "... wouldn't it be wonderful if Canon would have coated the 'inside' of the EVF screen with their flimsy luminescent blue coating so you wouldn't have to deal with such an asinine design while preforming a standard cleaning practice that you've done a hundred times before on other cameras?"

And if you do scratch this poorly designed (failed) part, the nameless corporate drone at Canon will tell you that you should have sent it to them to be cleaned at your expense. Canon earned 20 billion dollars last year and the CPS rep saved the company 20 cents... bless his tiny heart.

Same issue with C300 II: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?354171-C300-Mark-II-viewfinder-coating-all-screwed-up-unusable
Looks like the coating is fragile and will come off when force is applied. Again, q-tips are a very bad idea due to force concentration.
When wiping the solution with a wipe/optical-microfiber, it's important not to allow any finger to directly apply force- bundle/fold to create a 'spring buffer' between fingers and lens and slide (lens) or twist (viewfinder) without pressing into the lens surface (just enough force to keep in contact).
Pancro (made by Panavision for their lenses) and disposable wipes is a good suggestion from that thread.