A100 viewfinder issue.

I suspect that the cameras images stabilisation has developed a fault , leaving the sensor off centre.
It's not uncommon , especially with earlier cameras .
My a100 is still fine though .

With steady shot on , does the camera buzz on startup as it should ?
The sensor should shake for it's anti dust function , using the same components to move the sensor as it uses for the steady shot .

If you set the camera to a long exposure and hold the camera body to your ear , you should hear a faint buzzing noise as the sensor is moving around.

Finally , set the camera to sensor cleaning mode and look at the sensor .
I think you'll find it off centre .

It's unlikely to be the viewfinder , focus screen or mirror at fault .

Think you will find that the IBIS is broken and that the sensor has dropped down as far as it will go if you remove the lens and lock the mirror up.
Since the image is recorded "upside down" if the sensor drops the resulting image will shift upwards compared to what you see in the viewfinder.

Somewhere deep down in the archives here there's a thread where the OP "fixed" his broken IBIS by opening the camera and inserting shims under the sensor to raise it up = no more IBIS but atleast it centered the sensor back to it's normal position.

Thanks Sonwfella - makes sense.

addy landzaat wrote: I find the broken IBIS theory convincing. It is a bummer!

Sadly I have to agree - but it's still usable, I had plenty of decent images to choose from for the Foolishness - and, I have plenty of other bodies. On the plus side, it seems my hands are steadier than I had thought.

Phil -- Do you know if the camera was ever dropped? I think this malfunction sometimes occurs after being dropped. I've never had the problem on any of my myriad of A-mount bodies, but I have also never dropped any.

There is another "buried" thread about reversing the problem by giving the camera body an intentional wallop to reverse the effect. Success on doing this seemed very hit and miss, and the problem sometimes returned. So I'm not really advocating that!

Phil Wood wrote: robberly12 wrote: Phil -- Do you know if the camera was ever dropped? I think this malfunction sometimes occurs after being dropped. I've never had the problem on any of my myriad of A-mount bodies, but I have also never dropped any. There is another "buried" thread about reversing the problem by giving the camera body an intentional wallop to reverse the effect. Success on doing this seemed very hit and miss, and the problem sometimes returned. So I'm not really advocating that! I haven't dropped is as far as I recall - but it was a cheap ebay purchase and I've barely used it before the last few days. I suspect it came this way. The real question is which direction to wallop it? If it kills it, it would be a shame, but no great loss.

I think I saw at least one post where they advocated hitting it with the palm of your hand against the bottom of the body. I'm not sure if that was for a particular effect, or just a solid place where you hopefully wouldn't cause other damage. As I said, I'm not really advocating this; just a possible long-shot if you aren't too concerned about additional damage.

Ron