GW690 III Lens Construction/Alignment

[JohnEricDavis]

I bought a brand new GW690 III (Serial No. 3040118), which has been stored
in a Pelican foam case, babied in the extreme, and only has "024" on the
counter. I recently noticed that when viewed from above (spirit-level left,
winder to the right), the lens appears to be "looking" slightly to the left.
When focused to infinity, this issue becomes even more apparent, since the
flanges immediately behind the iris ring and the focus ring flanges seem to
be further apart on the viewed "right side" of the barrel than on the "left
side" of the barrel.
I am aware of parallax correction techniques, etc., but it would appear that
there might be some problem of alignment with the film plane. This camera has
always taken superbly sharp pictures, and I've never noticed any softness
side-to-side--but then I've never noticed this barrel oddity until now.......
Happy to supply a digital picture if that will help explain this very visible
lens anomaly. Help!
John Davis
Chicago

 

[JohnEricDavis]

GW 960 Lens problem

GW 960 Lens problem

(Reply to myself) Further observation results: the lens barrel itself is
not misaligned, it seems. Rather, the ring which contains the observation
window for the iris and shutter speed, and which holds captive the sunshade,
has somehow been skewed slightly. It seems to be attached by friction
fit (I don't see any screws), but that will be a question for the experts.

 

[JohnEricDavis]

Resolution of Problem, Part One

Resolution of Problem, Part One

The camera is being sent to Fuji in its Pelican case. The mentioned ring
is called the "index ring". Best guess: the ring was pressured when the
camera was in a soft bag outside of its Pelican case in an overhead compartment
during air travel. Moral of story: leave it in the Pelican case during transportation.
It will have to be replaced, and the optical factors checked.