Fast Cheap Easy Rangefinder Fix

[Max Power]

Thanks for the tip Rick, I used it on my FED 5V and it worked like a charm. An idea, though, is to use water-soluble marker first. I did, and it helped me to see if I really would like the idea at all, and it also helped me to get the patch in the right place. After that I just cleaned it off and placed a piece of tape over the spot.

Kent

 

[titrisol]

good idea Max! Water soluble marker first....

 

[Little Prince]

Dunno if Mamiya did it or someone else, but that's some smart thinking. Reminds us to keep our eyes open.

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

Thanks Rick! I've given my Zorki Mir a 'black eye', and now it sees fine!

 

[2maneekameras]

You dont really need a water soluble marker if you have access to laquer thinner. It will desolve sharpie ink, also melt some plastics. Ues it with caution and in very small amounts. I have one of the old leica amber filters which fits on the vf window of my IIIa, it also fits my zorki 1b and fed 1. Gel filters are avaiable in theatrical lighting supply stores. A fiter could be made which fits over the vf window with the area of the rf patch blocked with a darker transparent color which should make the rf patch seem relatively brighter without completely losing the coincident function.

 

[chojna]

Thanks - don't care where you got it from it works

 

[murrayatuptown]

They don't call him Slick Rick for nothing!

Now hmmm..can I use this somehow on a Moskva V that can't see a double image in bright sun?

Murray

 

[rick oleson]

i suppose you ought to be able to... try sticking a dot of Sharpie ink in the middle of the big left-hand viewfinder window and see what happens. you can always clean the ink back off if it doesn't work.....

: ) =

 

[titrisol]

dry-erase marker worked great as preliminary "dots" in my Contessamatic-E.
just another idea instead of water based markers. Water based markers "beaded" on the viewfinder, dry erase did not.

 

[rick oleson]

that should work - i used regular permanent markers, you can clean the ink off with lighter fluid ...

 

[peter_n]

Neat idea! I'm going to try it on my Canonet - probably doesn't need it, but I'd like to test it at least.

 

[einolu]

What I did on my zorki 1 was color the main rf window blue with a permemant marker. Im trying to get my hands on some blue transperant plastic for a more permenant solution since the market doesnt go on too smoothly and brushes off after a while. Need to get to an art store or something.

 

[2maneekameras]

A filter could be made which fits over the vf window with the area of the rf patch blocked with a darker transparent color which should make the rf patch seem relatively brighter without completely losing the coincident function. A theatrical lighting supply store will be able to supply you with an almost infinite number of transparent colors of "gels" which are now actually plastics. These are used to filter lighting in theater and movie productions. You could probably get samples which would be large enough for for rangfinder windows or lens filters.