Hi !
"Also, I really don't want to do it myself. I'm afraid that if I do I'll somehow botch it and the thing will be ruined and need to go off anyway."
Here is another solution you'll be delighted to try :
Put a very good film in the camera (something with good reputation for fine grain/resolution like TMX or Delta100 )
Tape a page of newspaper on the wall, the part with the adverts printed in small letters. Have the paper as flat as possible on the wall. If you tension it a little, it will be flat and not tear.
Put the camera on a heavy tripod with a long cable release. Tape measure the distance from the camera (film plane) to the wall and try to have the lens axis at right angle from the wall.
Set the lens focus to the distance you've just found using the lens markings alone, take one pict wide open, another at 2 stops from wide open.
Take carefull notes of what you've done, now, focus using the rangefinder, repeat the pictures, one wide open, the other 2 stops more than wide.
Develop an print the roll (use only the central part of the negs).
If the lens markings are correct, the first picture will be fine and you can read the ads. If off by a little, the second shot will be fine, if off by more than a little, the second shot will be blurry.
The same reasonning apply for the rangefinder focused picts. But this time you check the rangefinder thruthness....
Bear in mind that you're not making arts shots but technical shots. So you need to keep the light measurement as accurate as possible. Overexposing will reduce a little the total resolution (film+lens) because light will "spread out" underexposing will make the negs so thin you can't read the ads.
Last, do not confuse lens softness with blurryness. It is something difficult, but when you see you'll know ! (this is why I advise at looking only at the center of the image, as the center is always better defined than the edges)
Have a nice sunday, with the newspaper !
