DIY: Konic Hexar RF alignment

[pvdhaar]

DIY: Hexar RF alignment in 5 posts (with images)..

If you are left eye dominant like I am, you may find the rangefinder of the Konica Hexar RF to be not ideally aligned. This is because the perception of the vertical alignment is affected by the position of your eye; keep your eye either too high or too low and the rangefinder spot becomes blurry. With the viewfinder at the extreme left edge of the camera, it's difficult to position the left eye comfortably to view both the shutter speed scale and the rangefinder spot. After (unsuccessfully) trying to switch to right eye focussing, I decided to tweak the rangefinder alignment instead.

Here's how I went about it, and what my findings were..

Warning: opening the camera may void your guarantee; adjusting the alignment certainly will do so.

Disclaimer: note, that I can not take any responsibility for loss of guarantee or damage to your camera.

There are several descriptions of how to adjust the Hexar RF rangefinder floating around the web. They advise to remove a small plastic plug from the top of the camera; to poke a screwdriver in there and to turn a screw (horizontal alignment) and a knurled wheel (vertical alignment). At first I tried to do it this way, but the wheel wouldn't budge. Neither would the screw. After opening the camera, I found out why.

 

[pvdhaar]

Opening the top cover, the screws..

The top cover is held on with four screws and the ISO/EV dial. Three of the four screws are visible on the outside. Turn them counter clock wise to take them out. They are small, so take care not to loose them. The fourth screw is even smaller. It's located under the leatherette near the bayonet ring (at the right hand side when seen from the front). The leatherette can be pulled back just enough to remove (counter clock wise) this screw.

See picture for approximate locations..

 

[pvdhaar]

Opening the top cover, the ISO/EV dial..

The inner disk on the ISO/EV dial has two tiny holes. Using two very small screwdrivers stuck into these holes, it can be turned counter clock wise to take off the ISO/EV dial. It's best to keep the dial at +/-0 EV for when the dial needs to be mounted again, although the +/- led in the viewfinder will provide a clue of whether the dial is mounted correctly.

See picture for inner dial and the two holes..

The top cover can now be pulled off from the camera. There are no wires to the flash hot shoe. Instead, there are two tiny springs attached to the inside of the shoe that push against two pads on a printed circuit board inside.

 

[pvdhaar]

Adjusting the vertical alignment..

As soon as the top cover was off, I knew why the knurled wheel whouldn't turn. A blob of wax was poured over the wheel and its retainer. With a scalpel I cut through the wax. I could now turn the wheel. There are two protrusions on the retainer that should provide some leverage in case someone wants to use a screwdriver to turn the wheel, but it's still very stiff so I had to use (small) pliers instead.

The lens inside the knurled wheel is excentric and by turning the wheel moves the rangefinder coincident image up/down. Note, that turning it affects horizontal alingnment as well, so vertical is the first adjustment to be done.

As a proper view through the viewfinder requires presence of the diopter in top cover, that needs to be put back on properly between adjustments to judge alignment. If the top cover and diopter is not mounted properly, a wrong conclusion about the alignment is drawn.

The wheel and retainer are mounted on a small metal plate that rotates when the RF arm in the lens mount moves forward/backwards.

On this small plate there's a small screw that serves to adjust horizontal alignment (focussing). This screw is held tight with a clamping ring and therefore also very hard to turn. Only a screwdriver that fits perfectly should be used. Too small or too large will probably damage the head of the screw.

See picture for the wheel and the screw..

 

[pvdhaar]

Adjusting the horizontal alignment..

The horizontal alignment is much tougher to get right than I expected. There are two problems. First, when turning counter clock wise, the horizontal alignment screw turns the plate on which it is mounted as well, this can be considered merely a nuisance.

Second, adjusting for infinity as is often advised for rangefinder alignment works out less than perfect (to say the least). Test photo's showed that the focus was off (too close) in the close range (3ft/1m .. 10ft/3m). Looking at the focus indication on the lens barrel confirmed this.

So I had to redo the horizontal alignment. As errors up close show up more prominent than at infinity, I decided to do it for 1 meter instead. Using the film plane indicator as a guidance, I used a ruler to put an object at exactly 1 meter. Then focussed and looked at the focus indication on the lens barrel. I adjusted the rangefinder until it lined up with the lens indication at 1m. (All the while putting the top cover on to get a proper view and taking it off to adjust further. Of course this was done without putting the screws in!).

When done, I found that not only was the alignment at 1m perfect. It was also the case at 1.5m and surprisingly spot on at infinity.

I'm now a happy left eyed user of a Hexar RF.

Final picture is of the front where the knurled wheel, the horizontal adjustment screw and the location of the fourth cover mounting screw are indicated..

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Looking at this is scarier than watching a real surgical operation in the Discovery channel.

However... I'm glad you can do these things!

 

[jdos2]

Excellent write-up! Thanks! I wish I knew this before I sold my Hexar, otherwise, I'd still have it.

 

[tomchuk]

Great write-up. I did this on my new (to me) Hexar, which had a good deal of vertical misalignment. Everything came out fine. I added a little dab of Loctite to the gear to keep it aligned. Just be careful with this stuff as it will eat through all sorts of rubber and plastic.

 

[Issy]

For clarity, the hidden screw is directly in line above the frameline lever, just below the top edge of the "leatherette".

Despite the hatch on top of the Hexar RF for adjustment, as the authour points out you really want to remove the top to do this. The clearances around the adjustment screw are very tight -- you want to be able to see what you are doing, even if it does require putting on and taking off the top to chcek it each time.

(my feedback after doing it this weekend)

 

[laptoprob]

To make things simpler, the whole thing can be done through the plastic cap on the top deck of the camera. It is exactly the same system as the CLE. Big cofwheel for vertical and small screw for horizontal.

thanks a lot!

 

[tom_f77]

To make things simpler, the whole thing can be done through the plastic cap on the top deck of the camera. It is exactly the same system as the CLE. Big cofwheel for vertical and small screw for horizontal.

thanks a lot!

Hi Rob.

Is there any chance you could get a sketch up here somehow that would help someone identify the right places to poke a screwdriver while peering through the little hole..?

Thanks!

Tom

 

[pvdhaar]

To make things simpler, the whole thing can be done through the plastic cap on the top deck of the camera. It is exactly the same system as the CLE. Big cofwheel for vertical and small screw for horizontal.

thanks a lot!

I would advise anyone attempting a re-alignment for the first time on a Hexar RF body to open the top. The reason is that there are bodies where the cogwheel has been locked to its holder with a blob of a wax like substance. If you force the cogwheel when this blob is not cut away beforehand, you'll probably end up bending some parts or losing grip on the cogwheel and then poking into something vulnerable.

 

[Issy]

Agree with pvdhaar (on the vertical alignment cog marked with green arrow).

Also, the horizontal alignment screw (marked in yellow) is very close to part of the finder optical path (see image). You tend to have to use a larger screwdriver because the slot in the screw is wide (as pvdhaar pointed out, if not, you will start to mar the screw)

Also included, an image that shows where the smaller, hidden body screw is that needs to be removed to remove the top.

Pulling the top off my Contax G1 was much scarier. 😀

 

[tom_f77]

Good advice from all of you adn some more useful pictures - thanks. And

I will have a gentle poke through the hole, and if anything is at all stiff or doubtful I'll take the top off...

Tom

 

[Issy]

fyi, turning the horizontal alignment screw, at least in my case, was pretty stiff.

 

[gelmir]

I recently picked up a Hexar RF and the vertical alignment is off. I will cautiously realign it myself but once the wheel is properly adjusted, what can I use to tighten it ? I think Loctite is a bit too strong, in case one wants to readjust the alignment later.

 

[pvdhaar]

First of all, the wheel isn't turned easily. At least it wasn't on my Hexar. It's perfectly possible that you don't even need to lock it. That said, there are several types of Loctite, ranging from permanent fix, through strong lock to light lock. As there are no strong forces acting on the wheel, other than expansion and shrinking under temperature changes, I'd suggest using the lightest Loctite version you can find.

 

[gelmir]

Thanks for sharing your valuable experience pvdhaar !

 

[Issy]

One caveat

One caveat

Just for full disclosure (and since I posted a few pictures of it), I came across this from the original p-net article about doing this alignment ( I was searching on something else Hexar related). I can't vouch for whether this is correct or not, and I have never touched the knurled wheel myself, but I think anyone who attempts this alignment should be aware of it, until someone with access to a repair manual or service guide or a K-M tech can verify it one way or another (I tried to buy a Hexar RF service manual, but K-M wouldn't sell it to me). Anyway, the text, verbatum from the p-net thread goes like this:

"CAUTION: ERRONEOUS INFO ALERT! The toothed wheel *is* for adjusting the infinity alignment--ONLY, *not* the vertical alignment, although undue pressure on the assembly can disturb the vertical alignment. The small screw by the condensor lens is to adjust the focus plane of the secondary image to the same virtual distance as the primary viewfinder image. *Do NOT* touch that screw! The vertical alignment of the Hexar's RF has to be done with the top plate removed, as it involves raising/lowering an entire subassembly. This info came straight from a very helpful Konica tech back when I got my Hexar."

I, personally, have turned the screw marked with a yellow arrow to adjust the horizontal alignment, with no issue.

found here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003iOj

Why chance it, you ask? 'cause K-M charges a pretty much flat $168 US to work on a Hexar RF, for any reason (I just had one come back).

 

[Issy]

Update from the Service Manual

Update from the Service Manual

I was finally able to get a copy of the service manual.

Verbatum (updated/corrected 16FEB07 in italics):

1. Up-down [infinity] coincidence adjustment: Turn the range finding lens frame (1)
2. Up-down 1m coincidence adjustment: Set the lens distance mark to 1m and check at a distance of 1m. If out of focus, set halfway to [infinity] (use 1m chart)
3. Left-right [infinity] coincidence adjustment: turn the range finding lens lever pin B (2)
4. Left-right 1m coincidence adjustment: Set the lens distance mark to 1m and adjust by turning the roller adjustment pin (3) at a distance of 1m (Use 1m chart)
5. Left-right [infinity] coincidence adjustment: If out of focus, repeat steps 3-5
6. After adjustment, fit the viewfinder cover and check.

I updated the previous image to match the diagram in the service manual (the numbers match the text):