Canon 7 newbie questions

[Leif Shuttyr]

Hi everyone,

I succumbed to a major GAS attack yesterday and bought myself a Canon 7. It looks like its been through the wars, but everything - including the meter - seems to be working ok. There's a couple of things I'm not sure about though and I thought some of the experts here might be able to help.

Firstly, the projected framelines seem heavily offset to the right of the viewfinder - so much so that with the 135 framelines showing, the rangefinder patch is pretty much in the top left corner of the framelines. With the 50 framelines up I virtually have look into the viewfinder at an angle to see all four corners. I'm used to Russian RF's with no framelines at all, so I don't know if this is right or not? Is this the parallax correction?

Secondly, the rangefinder vertical alignment seems to be out slightly. Nothing too major, but I just wondered if it was an easy fix and, if so, how do I go about it?

Many thanks

Gavin

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Framelines are a "Bit Disconcerting" as you look through them. I always have to convince myself by looking at the first roll of film that they are accurate.

You will need a set of fine screwdrivers, all flathead, to adjust the RF. It is fairly easy, but have a flashlight ready to look for the top of the adjustment screw once the screw-cap is off.

BTW: Congratulations, the Canon 7 is a great camera.

The screw in between the viefinder and frameline window covers the adjustment for distance:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6100

Vertical Alignment is covered by the little screw just past the shutter speed dial.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6104

I use very fine/stiff tweezers to get it off.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The last package that I received from Canada took 1 week to arrive, was sent Air Mail. It was a 5lb package.

 

[back alley]

day 29 or 30 for me---waiting on my 28 mm from oz.

wonder of wonders, yesterday i got a parcel from new york and it only took a week!!
first time ever...
joe

 

[Leif Shuttyr]

The Framelines are a "Bit Disconcerting" as you look through them. I always have to convince myself by looking at the first roll of film that they are accurate.
QUOTE]

Brian

I think disconcerting is definitely the right word 🙂 Anyway, I quickly ran a roll of film through the 7 yesterday and the results show that the framelines are accurate. Phew!

Thanks also for your (and greyhoundman's) advice about adjusting the RF. As I said it's not desperately out so I may leave it for now, but it's useful to know the procedure.

The 7 does indeed feel like a great camera - I can't wait to start using it earnest. Now I just need to start saving for that 50mm f0.95 🙂

Thanks again

Gavin

 

[jlw]

About those framelines: as you've probably noticed, they move diagonally as you focus the lens, so they're not as 'disconcerting' at infinity as they are at close distances. This is true of almost any RF that uses moving framelines for parallax compensation.

Incidentally, if you ever pick up a 7/7s body to check out at a store or camera show and there's no lens on it, the framelines will look REALLY weird -- with no lens, the RF follower arm sticks all the way out and the framelines move all the way down to the lower right corner! With a lens on the camera they'll look a lot more normal.

 

[photofool]

Hi All!
I am also looking at a Canon7. A few questions about the meter. When you select the between high/low meter scale one allows the meter to deflect to the top of the scale and the other barely moves. Is this normal? What is the relationship between the meter scale and setting the film speed? What I mean is when I change the film speed in the camera I am looking at I would expect the mechanical scale to move at each major film speed setting. I don't think there is a resistor change under the film speed (shutter) knob. So I expect to see some indication that the film speed is different.
Thanks,
Tim

 

[jlw]

The meter has high and low sensitivity settings, controlled by the little widget on the back. As you'd expect, you use the high sensitivity position in dim light and the low sensitivity position in bright light. There are dual f/stop scales on the meter readout to account for the two sensitivity settings.

Setting the film speed dial turns some gears that mechanically rotate the meter's f/stop scale to different positions. If you imagine the meter needle at a fixed angle (corresponding to a particular amount of light) then changing the film speed dial by one stop should move the f/stop scale under the needle enough to change the f/stop reading by one stop.

There is no variable resistor associated with either the film-speed or shutter-speed setting. Both of these influence the meter reading simply by moving the f/stop scale via the train of gears.

The meter circuit also has no variables* except the high and low sensitivity settings, so at a given sensitivity setting, the needle always deflects by the same amount for a given level of light. Even the high and low sensitivity setting doesn't involve changing resistance; instead, it's just a simple switch that shifts between two parts of the selenium cell, one part masked and one part open. (You can see the masked part if you look carefully through the fly's-eye window on the front.)

In short, this is a very simple, straightforward meter system that, once it's set up correctly, has almost nothing to go out of adjustment or get out of whack except through gradual deterioration (of the selenium cell or wires) or clumsy repair (e.g. if someone removes the top and then doesn't line up the gears correctly when putting the dial back on.) If the one you're looking at doesn't seem to meter properly, these are the most likely possibilities.






*Okay, Mister or Ms. Persnickety, there are some "trim pot" variable resistors in the circuit for initial calibration of the meter system -- but what I meant was that normal metering does NOT depend on variable resistance.

 

[photofool]

Yes it seems that the camera I am looking at fails to move the scale when I change the film speed. I use a hand held meter or guess most of the time so that might not matter. Or during CLA that function could be repaired. Thank you for the quick reply and the detailed information.
Tim

 

[Leif Shuttyr]

Actually the meter scale doesn't move when you change the film speed. All that happens is the shutter speed dial rotates in relation to the film speed dial. So say for example, you have film speed set to 400, the shutter speed set at 1/500, and the meter scale reads f5.6. If you change the film speed to 200, the meter will still line up with f5.6, but the shutter speed will now be 1/250.

The meter scale is tied to the shutter speed, so rotating the shutter speed dial itself is what causes the meter scale to move up and down.

 

[jlw]

Actually the meter scale doesn't move when you change the film speed. All that happens is the shutter speed dial rotates in relation to the film speed dial.

You're right, of course; that's what I meant, but I didn't make myself clear.

Normally, when you turn the shutter speed dial, the film speed dial rotates along with it, and so does the meter scale. To change film speeds, you hold down the little lock button; this holds the film speed scale still while you rotate the shutter speed dial, changing the film speed in relation to the shutter speed. It's rotating the shutter speed dial that makes the meter scale rotate.

This distinction doesn't make any difference in operating the camera, but it does if you ever try to take it apart!

 

[Leif Shuttyr]

This distinction doesn't make any difference in operating the camera, but it does if you ever try to take it apart!

That's how I found out! I popped the top on my 7 the other night, and ended up spending ages trying to figure out the shutter speed/film speed/meter connection when putting it back together! :bang:

Look at me - Canon 7 newbie a week ago and now I think I'm an expert!

Gavin

 

[photofool]

Thanks to all of you. The camera works just like you all agreed on and I am happy with my purchase. Got a 50mm f/1.8 lens with it. The meter matches a quick check against another camera.
Tim