Canonet 28 focus 'lag'

[jaik]

I've recently inherited some old cameras that used to belong to my grandfather, amongst which was a Canonet 28. I've never used a rangefinder before but have been curious to, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to give it a go!

However, I've noticed that the focus seems to 'lag' a lot. When moving the focus from near to far, it appears to function perfectly, but when moving the focus the other way, the focusing ring moves, but the focus takes a good few seconds to slowly creep to where it's meant to be. I don't know how the internals work, but could something be very stiff or sticking inside? If so, is it easy to service or repair?

I've also noticed that the yellow focusing area in the centre is quite blurred around the edges and hard to distinguish, is this normal or could it be part of the optics that is fogged up?

Any help and advice is much appreciated 🙂

 

[photo4ls]

My wife has the Canonet 28 also and she was
having meter problems. Contact Mark Hama
for Canonet problems.
Nelson

 

[John Shriver]

Clearly the lube for the pivot arm for the rangefinder mirror has congealed.

Only Leica cameras (and the new Zeiss Ikon RF) have a sharp-edged rangefinder patch, other rangefinders have a very fuzzy edge to the patch.

 

[MaxElmar]

Funny, my Bessa-R has a very well-defined RF patch.

I agree about the RF pivot, though. Time for a CLA.

 

[jaik]

Thanks guys 🙂