Focusing issue on Rolleiflex

[SeaninBrisbane]

Hi - I've suspected that the focusing on my Rolleiflex 3.5 tessar may be off for quite some time. Tonight, I set the focus to 3 feet and measured the distance from the lens to the object - the camera was about 15cm too far away. Is there any way I can adjust this without sending it away for a CLA? Many thanks.

 

[Wayno]

Don't rely on the distance scale (although admittedly it sounds like it's out of whack if it's that far out). Take the back door off of the camera, lock the lens open on bulb with the iris wide open and compare the focus at the film plane with the viewing lens (you'll need a spare focussing screen or something improvised to try this).

 

[ChrisN]

As Wayno indicates, there's more to it than just the focus scale - there's several elements that can get out of synch in the system.

Wayno's test (ground glass placed across the film rails) is probably the best way to test that the lens is focusing propoerly at the distance indicated on the scale. If it isn't it means the lens isn't mounted correctly, which means a trip to the camera doctor.

Separate from that is whether the viewfinder system is in agreement, which means the viewing lens, the mirror and the ground glass all working together and in synch with the taking lens.

It's not rocket science, and pretty easy to check if it's correct, but if there are errors it might be easier to get a qualified camera tech to fix it.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Wayno has put his finger on part of it. I just measured my Rolleiflex and the film plane is some 9-10 cm behind the front of the lens. That takes care of 2/3rds of your apparent discrepancy. Now you're talking about a difference of a bit more than 2 inches and I doubt that's going to be significant or easily corrected.
If, however, there's a difference in focus between the viewing lens and the taking lens then you may have a problem. That's unlikely as both are fixed on the same lens board.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Sean, if you need to have it checked out and you don't have anyone in Brisbane there's a "Rollei Expert" in Sydney i can put you in touch with. He's retired and works from home but he's factory trained and very knowledgeable. He did a complete overhaul on my E2 recently.

 

[SeaninBrisbane]

Thanks for all the replies! I was actually measuring the distance from the object to the lens; therefore, my discrepancy has increased by another 9cm if measured to the film. Leigh, I would be most interested to obtain the details of the Rollei expert from you - I'm not in a financial position to have my camera overhauled at the moment, but would love to do so in the future.

 

[1948nikon]

Mirror

Mirror

Hi - I've suspected that the focusing on my Rolleiflex 3.5 tessar may be off for quite some time. Tonight, I set the focus to 3 feet and measured the distance from the lens to the object - the camera was about 15cm too far away. Is there any way I can adjust this without sending it away for a CLA? Many thanks.

It is most unusual for the pressure plate or focus to be out of alignment on any Rollei.
I think that if you check your mirror you will find that it has been dislodged ever so slightly .

 

[le vrai rdu]

Hi - I've suspected that the focusing on my Rolleiflex 3.5 tessar may be off for quite some time. Tonight, I set the focus to 3 feet and measured the distance from the lens to the object - the camera was about 15cm too far away. Is there any way I can adjust this without sending it away for a CLA? Many thanks.

well, don't rely on the indicated distance

take some pictures with it and you will see 🙂

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Leigh, I would be most interested to obtain the details of the Rollei expert from you - I'm not in a financial position to have my camera overhauled at the moment, but would love to do so in the future.

"The Rollei Expert" advertises in the Photographic Trader magazine. He is Armenian, sometimes a little hard to understand on the phone, but knows his cameras and has contacts all over for Rollei stuff. Was factory trained. He actually put a brand new exposure meter in my E2. He is retired and operates out of a garage workshop at the back of his home in Fairfield, Sydney. He repairs all sorts of film cameras including SLR's.
His name is Sargon Evanian, his email is <acavid@hotmail.com>, his phone number is 02 9724 7127.
I thought his charges quite reasonable and was very pleased with how the camera came back to me.

 

[ZeissFan]

I would shoot a test roll wide open at various distances. Take detailed notes about your focus point. Then check your prints against your notes.

Don't rely on a measuring stick to check focus.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

My "ghetto" tip:

If you don't have ground glass you can cut a piece of wax paper to size, tape it on the film rails and focus off that to check accuracy. Turn out the lights or use a pillow case or towel to block extraneous light from behind.


Todd

 

[uhligfd]

How do the pics, taken wide open look when focused through the viewing lens properly?

That is the only measure here. The yards/feet/m scales are for ?? and who really cares? Unless you want to prefocus using the feet/m scale in the dark ..

 

[Murray Kelly]

If the camera was OK before I can't help you. I did, however buy a Yashica-44 with a problem - the screen focusing was waaaay out. After a saga of dis-assembly etc (I learned a lot, I can tell you) it turned out 'someone' had removed the mirror - probably to clean it - and just laid it back in the top housing and not slipped it into its correct place, in the clips provided. The mirror fell out when I finally got around to checking that simple but unexpected area of interest!
Slipped it back properly and the problem disappeared. Duh!
Murray

 

[raid]

My 2.8D suddenly gave me OOF images,and it turned out the mirror was moved from its place a little. I had taken the camera with me on a trip with an airplane,and the trip must have resulted in the mirror move.

 

[mfogiel]

Sorry to hijack the thread a little, but I was just thinking of starting my own one... I have a Rollei 2.8F Planar, and on several shots I have noticed a very strange phenomenon - the image is sharp only over a strip which runs from bottom to top in the center, but it is completely soft at the right and at the left edge... I thought it might be an issue with film flatnes, but frankly it seems odd, and this has happened both on wide open shots and on shots taken somewhere around f5.6 - any ideas?

 

[Uwe_Nds]

Marek,
sounds like the taking lens is not parallel to the film plane.

Cheers,
Uwe