Dust Speck in Viewfinder

Leica Guy;1940 wrote: A potential seller has given me an S2 to try out for a day or two before I decide to buy. I don’t want to do anything intrusive with the camera until I tell him we have a deal. There is a faint dust speck in the viewfinder that doesn’t appear in the photos. Is that just a matter of cleaning the focusing screen? It’s not a big deal, but thought I’d ask before I okayed the deal.

It is most likely just a speck of dust on the focusing screen. You can use a blower bulb to blow it off if on the underside (facing mirror). If the speck is on the top of the screen, you’d need to drop the screen down to blow it off. On the off chance that it isn’t dust on the screen, you may have a dust particle in the prism or viewfinder optical path. In this case, it would need to go to Leica to be cleaned.

Leica Guy;1943 wrote: David,

Thanks for the quick answer. If it has to be sent in, is this something covered under warranty? (My first thought is no, but thought I’d ask.)

Not a big deal, but just like to know before I decide to buy. The camera still has 8 months of warranty left on it.

Dust in the prism or viewfinder assembly should be covered. In fact, a regular cleaning is covered too. One of our customers shot with his S2 in the desert (hanging out of a helicopter, in fact). After the trip he sent the camera in for a thorough cleaning to just make sure there wasn’t any small sand particles anywhere.