First roll through Canon P

[mfunnell]

I finally finished off a roll of film in my new/old Canon P and had the results developed, printed and scanned.

The good news is that exposure is spot-on (so the shutter speeds are good, and I tried them throughout the range), there are no light leaks etc. The lens that came with it (a Canon 50/1.8) seems nice and sharp. Focus is smooth but the aperture ring is quite stiff (nothing I can't live with, though). The viewfinder is nice and bright and the contrast on the RF patch is good.

The bad news is that the horizontal alignment on the RF is quite a ways out (vertical seems good). I got good results with scale/hyperfocal focusing at narrow apertures, but there's substantial back-focus when used at wide apertures (about 4' behind at 10', judging from a couple of frames).

I've found Karen Nakamura's site and plan on trying to fix the alignment according to those instructions.

Is there anything else I should know about before I try that?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

...Mike

Sunset through bushfire haze, Collector NSW; Kodak HD 200 (expired) @f4 1/125th

 

[mfunnell]

No answer was the stern reply....so I went ahead and tried it. After messing with both "vertical alignment" then "horizontal alignment" for some time (re-doing one after adjusting the other; repeat ad nauseum) I've come to the conclusion that either there's more to this than is documented at the site above or that there's something not quite right in the finder on my camera (there are some indications it may have suffered from a fairly severe knock).

I can get the finder adjusted so that it looks pretty accurate (judgng by the focusing scale on the lens) at both 4' and 10' (the two distances I checked at). "Pretty accurate" is within the limits of my measurement (its amazingly hard to move a tripod in <1 centimetre adjustments) and my accuracy focusing through the finder (I re-focused multiple times, from long to short and short to long and threw away the outlying results).

However, with any of the adjustments I was able to make, this left infinity slightly but quite obviously "out" as judged from the lens focusing scale.

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Or any thoughts on whether there might be damage that's causing this?

...Mike

P.S. I guess the proof will be in the next roll of test shots. But those aren't done yet.

 

[John Shriver]

Adjust at infinity. If that doesn't do it, you probably need a professional with the right jigs and measuring devices.

 

[back alley]

i agree with john.
if you have the right sized driver head it makes it easier t00 - i always adjusted at infinity - real infinity, not across the street, and that took care of any problems.

joe

 

[mfunnell]

Thanks guys. I'll probably try shooting a focus testing chart from a tripod, then readjusting, as you recommend, for infinity - then shoot the same chart again, all on the same test roll. The results from that should show which gives my best focus result and might also show if I have a problem that's larger than basic adjustments can fix.

...Mike

 

[Ronald M]

Mark Hama.com will fix it if you did not butcher it too badly. My screwmount Leicas go to him and he is a Canon rf fan .