Argh! Leica RF out of alignment after CLA

[anandi]

After dropping a bundle on a CLA I was really bummed to find 1/2 my shots out of focus. I'm not *that* bad at aligning the yellow patches!

The 'good' pictures were really nice, though and mostly ones shot with the Elmar at smaller apertures f4-f8, which I figure gave enough depth of field to compensate for the misaligned rangefinder mechanism. I note on sticking a 100mm canon lens on the camera that when focussed on infinity-type objects the lens is at something like 30 ft...

So a quick question - is it reasonable to have expected the rangefinder accuracy to have been done as part of a CLA?

-Amit

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Yes. Place a tape measure on a table and set your camera up on a tripod. With the lens wide-open, focus on a number on the tape measure in the midde -distance. Expose. Refocus. Expose. Write down the number you focussed on. Next focus on an object 2-3 miles away. Note where the focus mark is on the lens. Make several exposures and keep record of each shot. Use a tripod if you have one to eliminate camera shake a culprit. Have the film developed. You will now be able to decribe to the tech exactly what the camera and lens are doing. If the pictures show front or back focus, send the camera back to the tech and ask them to make it right.

 

[terrafirmanada]

Bummer, that should be part of the CLA. I had a similar problem whem my M3 was recently CLA'd. I am pretty sure my rf was either knocked out during shipping, or I did it myself after the fact. It was dead on prior, but funny things happen to old cameras that have been in need of adjustment.
Anyway, I decided to adjust it myself. I don't know what type of camera you have (perhaps Canon), but it might be worth learning how to adjust it from a pro in case it goes out again. Good luck!

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Who did the CLA for your camera? If that's indeed the problem, they really dropped the ball, and is unprofessional; you should request they calibrate it and work on it pronto.

 

[John Henry]

I recall when I was doing my army time back in the 60s, there was a photographer [ I think he might have been German] who would have a drink with us now and then and always carried a Leica. I think it was an M3. Said that he liked it because he could do his own adjustments in the field. Guess they're not that simple anymore.

 

[payasam]

Benjamin's method is systematic and therefore dependable. There is, however, a simpler way. Place camera at one end of long table. Some distance from far end of table, in middle of frame, place something to focus on. To right of frame, though not quite at its edge, place something farther from camera than middle object. To left, place something nearer camera. All three somethings should have vertical surfaces facing camera: maybe hard-bound books placed upright, opened an inch or so. Fire off a couple of frames, changing "farther" and "nearer" -- which should be the same -- between the two. See what the processed film says. If you focus on an object at infinity and the lens says something else, the finder may be out of adjustment, the mount may have the wrong shimming, or the lens (if it too was opened) may have been re-assembled starting at the wrong thread. For 17 years I used an M3 whose range-finder was out. However, when correctly focussed *for the film plane*, the two images in the finder were separated by exactly the same distance, for all distances. So I would simply mis-focus to that degree. Made an ass of myself once by doing it with a friend's M3, whose finder was dead on.