Does a wise man adjust his focus?

[Dan Lazin]

Good day, all.

At long, long last, my R-D1 arrived from Hong Kong today (PayPal was aggravatingly slow with transferring the money.)

Good news: just four hot pixels in ISO 200 jpegs, and I can live with that. Vertical rangefinder adjustment is bang-on. Framelines seem level.

But the focus! Oh, the focus. With my CV 40/1.4, the camera focuses two inches behind whatever subject I select, except at infinity, where the focus is fine.

Since it's under warranty in a faraway land, I don't want to send it in for an exchange that could be just as bad. Those shipping charges add up fast.

Options, then: 1) Send it to DAG. How has this been working lately? Has anyone besides Ed Schwartzreic had this adjustment made?

2) Fix it myself. I'm not so bad with mechanical things, but the pictures here do make me cringe a little. I could handle the repair if the screws under the hot shoe are all I need. My understanding from previous threads, however, is that the trio of hot-shoe screws control infinity focus, vertical alignment and "rangefinder clarity," while the screw hidden under the viewfinder side of the top plate controls near focus.

Is that correct? Is the hard-to-access screw the one I need, or is that just a coarse-adjustment counterpart to the focus screw that lives under the hot shoe?

Meanwhile, what does the "rangefinder clarity" screw do?

I know that plenty of people have tackled the vertical adjustment, but that one's fine for me. Rocamadour mentioned adjusting his own focus problems in this thread; has anyone else tried it?

Uh, aside from all this, it seems to be a great little camera ...

 

[aizan]

send it to dag.

 

[krimple]

I would highly recommend having a pro like DAG fix the camera, as I've seen the exploded diagram on getting the rangefinder apart, and would be concerned that I'd make things much, much worse by mucking with those things. I think the screw you're looking for would be located somewhere other than the ones in the hot shoe, but could be wrong...

I broke my speed graphic's rangefinder mirror this way (it's ok--it was terribly out of alignment so hopeless anyway) and learned that some things just aren't meant for the marginally inclined (me).

Thanks for the other link--I have a very slight mis-aligned vertical and if it ever gets really bad, at least I know I can try that procedure first...

Let us know what you decide to do and the outcome.

 

[ulrik]

I have adjusted my focus (and vertical alignment) with great success. Camera on tripod - lens set to infinity and frame something very very distant in the viewfinder (the moon will do fine) - match up the images by turning the little screw slightly (the screw straight down, to the left from the tall one that adjusts the vertical alighment) - test all close focus distances with a tape measure from the filmplane.

Fixed it myself knowing that it will fall out of focus and allignment again and most likely in a situation where I really need the camera and will have on time do send it off to repair.

 

[jlw]

If your problem were just infinity focus, I'd say you could do it yourself IF you have exactly the right size screwdrivers AND if you're reasonably coordinated at working on tiny stuff.

If the infinity is OK and that near-focus-correction screw needs to be adjusted, though, definitely send it back under warranty or to a specialist (preferably one who's worked on R-D 1s before.) Removing the top cover is a much more involved job than just removing the accessory shoe.

Another thing: You might want to check vs. a couple more lenses before concluding that the infinity position is OK and it's just the close distances that are off. I say this because I've found that my recently-acquired 40/1.4 focuses the rangefinder slightly "past infinity" (possibly a tolerance mechanism?) so if you're setting the lens to its infinity stop and judging the RF by that, it's possible that the RF's infinity position is actually off a bit. If you don't have access to a lot of other M lenses and/or just want to make SURE, that's another good reason to send it to an expert -- s/he will have the appropriate gauges and tools to see whether the issue is with the lens, the camera body, or the RF adjustment.

 

[Terence T]

Hi, which retailer in Hong Kong did you get the camera from?

 

[Dan Lazin]

I got it from Tin Cheung. It was actually a bit of a hassle -- the exchange rates on their website apparently don't update automatically, and since I bought in Euros on the day after one of the EU constitution votes failed and the currency dived, I had to pay extra to make up the difference between the amount I initially paid (1860 Euros, about US$2250 at the time) and what that was *supposed* to work out to in Hong Kong Dollars. I suppose that's fair, since it was a genuine pricing error (more of a website design error, really), not intentionally false advertising, but in the end I paid about US$2500 -- the same I hear Dr. Yao is charging -- and for the amount of hassle with extra payments and days waiting for Tin Cheung to respond to e-mails, I should have gone with Dr. Yao.

I think I'll send the camera in to DAG. He wrote back promptly last night, pretty much confirming the thoughts here that problems with near focus require removing the top plate. He'll do it for $85, and I knew that was a cost I was risking incurring when I bought a camera cheap from HK. I just don't want to let it go again, now that it's finally here!

DAG did point out one more interesting thing: on the R-D1s he's tried -- and mine has this problem too -- if you focus on a medium-distance subject starting from the lens's near-focus limit, check the distance on the lens, then refocus on the same thing starting from infinity, the new distance marked on the lens doesn't always correspond. One might give me about 1.05 metres and the other 1.1 metres, but either way, they're both back-focused. DAG suggests that if you don't nail the focus on the first swing, even with an accurate rangefinder, you should start again -- i.e. return the lens to minimum focus if you're focusing on something near or return it to infinity if you're focusing on something far away, then try again. Overshooting the mark and then turning the lens in the opposite direction might confuse the rangefinder, I guess, if I'm reading DAG right. He doesn't think there's a fix for this. I only get the problem occasionally.

Are people actually having problems with their rangefinders falling out of adjustment with use (and abuse), or are the only adjustments so far to get new cameras working correctly?

 

[sreidvt]

My R-D1 is travelling all over in a padded case in the trunk of a motorcycle and so far, the RF alignment seems to be fine.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Phil_Hawkes]

My R-D1 is currently waiting for repair with the Australian voigtlander importers. I've mention on another thread that I was having trouble focussing.

I was interested when the guy at the shop did a quick test of the focusing mechanism. It was rather simple:
1. Take the lens off
2. Looking through the camera viewer at a distant object and
3. slowly press the focus-following-lever/wheel mechanism into the camera until the lever/wheel stops.


From what he said, I gather that if the camea is focussed properly, then where the lever/wheel stops should be where the viewfinder images converge at infinity. In my case, the mirror image went past infinity and kept going. Apparently it was significantly off.

I don't know that this is a Voigtlander approved method for testing your focussing mechanism, but it seems a nice simple test to check if there is a problem.

I can't wait to see how the camera goes when it focusses properly!!!! I feel very stupid for not getting it checked earlier.

Phil

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Does the coupling mechanism of the RD-1 have a physical stop at infinity? Does the camera also focus past infinity with the lens on it? Chances are that a normal (50mm) lens can be trusted at infinity. I tend to use a lens that is "trusted" at infinity mounted on the camera. Several cameras have mechanisms that can be physically pushed past infinity, and must be calibrated with a lens on it.

 

[dmihajlo]

hi,

the alignment of the rangefinder of my rd-1 was perfect at the beginning (infinity and vertical, I did not check close focussing, but never encountered focussing problems).

during a holiday in NZ, the camera was exposed to big & recurring temperature changes almost everyday (hot summer temperatures of 30+ deg. celsius degrees air teperature, much much hotter in the car, cold night time temperatures, mostly below 10 deg. celsius). The result of this (and heavy usage) was that the vertical alignment got worse and worse, so I had to adjust it after a few weeks of use.

Infinity alignment remained stable, so I think once infinity and close range is fixed, you will need to do vertical adjustment after a while, but this is an easy thing to to.

Regards

 

[Phil_Hawkes]

Update on my previous focusing problem

Update on my previous focusing problem

My R-D1 is currently waiting for repair with the Australian voigtlander importers. I've mention on another thread that I was having trouble focussing.

I was interested when the guy at the shop did a quick test of the focusing mechanism. It was rather simple:
1. Take the lens off
2. Looking through the camera viewer at a distant object and
3. slowly press the focus-following-lever/wheel mechanism into the camera until the lever/wheel stops.


From what he said, I gather that if the camea is focussed properly, then where the lever/wheel stops should be where the viewfinder images converge at infinity. In my case, the mirror image went past infinity and kept going. Apparently it was significantly off.

When I got the camera back, the technician mentioned that the focussing mechanism was close to spot on. So maybe the lever/wheel doesn't stop at infinity after all.

I just did a quick test and (even after correcting) the mirror goes past infinity. I apologise if I've caused any confusion with that dis-information 😱

I think the problem had more to do with my Noctilux lens. (see
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8382

Phil