Repairing the si2k oled viewfinder

[Bob Hart]

It is possible for focused sunlight to terminally damage the OLED display panel within the SI2K Evolution style electronic viewfinder. What starts off as an apparent burn spot on the panel spreads with time and can be seen to be spreading when the viewfinder is operating.

The SI2K viewfinder consists of an Evolution-style eyecup and dioptre focusing assembly built around a finder sourced from a third-party manufacturer.

The core of the finder is the Liteye LM-600 eyepiece. This is manufactured by Liteye Systems Inc., a US company.

If an internal display panel is ruined by sunlight, it can be replaced but is an expensive item. P+S Technik can order it in for you and repair your finder or onsell the part to you.

For those who still operate the SI2K, the cost-benefit may not be in your favour when the residual value of the system is considered.

Being in Australia and far distant from convenient product support, I wanted to avoid the risk of loss or damage in shipping an entire finder and instead source the necessary part from the manufacturer.

I found it possible to order the part from Liteye. It remains an expensive item, possibly because of relatively small volumes of manufacture and needing to meet military spec.

Swapping the part out is relatively simple but requires the fine motor skills needed for handling miniature components, cleanliness and care.

Desirably there should also be static electricity grounding but with miniature parts this is difficult. I choose to humidify the air by leaving a kettle or urn boiling in the room to lower risks of static discharge.

Absolutely imperative is that there should be no finger contact with the surfaces of the display panel itself, only the very edges of the little sub-board it is attached to or it will become ruined.

The LM-600 core of the P+S viewfinder assembly consists of two miniature circuit boards, one being the controller onto which the second, the display panel on its board docks onto.

The display panel and its controller are usually supplied as a pair, however the panel itself was supplied to me separately on request. The panel and controller board are assured to be working at source but with end-user being the assembler, there is no warranty. The end-user wears the risk. There is a reason.

The panel can dock to the control board in two positions. There is no donkey trap key or unique shape to stop you from doing it wrong. The wrong position will apparently destroy the display panel on power being applied. The correct position is indicated in the first image with captions and arrows in small print.

The third image in the row with the blue tape attached is of the sun-damaged display panel. The damage initiated as a small spot in the top left but migrated wider across the panel which lost too much display area to remain usable.

[Bob Hart]

Footnote to above.


Steve Rice in Thailand has swapped out his sunburned display panel with no problems. I have yet to do the same here.

[Bob Hart]

After a long period of time, I needed the electronic finder for chasiong aeroplanes, so I fitted the new display chip and it was fine. I now have an Evolution eyecup with shutter iris fitted. It is still too easy to forget and roast the display with focused sunlight. As a double guard, I ram a styro coffee cup on as well just in case the iris lever gets flipped open.