How to adjust Moskva 5 rangefinder

[Todd Frederick]

I bought a Moskva 5 through this forum a few years ago but the rangefinder was not accurate so I did not use it.

Yesterday I decided to look into this by doing the following: remove the single screw on the rangefinders adjustment dial (next to the lens), remove the black cover (it may be stuck so use a pin to pry it up) and there will be two screws. Loosen the two screws but do not remove them (about 3/4ths turn each). This allows the rangefinder wheel to turn and will move the split image but does not turn the lens.

Therefore, I simply turned the lens to infinity, then turned the rangefinder adjustment dial to infinity by bringing the split image together on something far in the distance, then tightened the two screws, replaced the black circle covering and the single screw, and the rangefinder is adjusted.

I tested the camera with film after doing this and it is accurate at all distances. Very easy. Hope this helps if you're having a similar problem.

 

[rpinchbeck]

Awesome text Todd. I recently add this section to The Kive Survival Site;
http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/Moskva5.html

Cheers,

Russ Pinchbeck

 

[Todd Frederick]

Thank you. Your Moskva repair guide is excellent. It got me into the top to clean the viewfinder optics. Excellent and easy to follow.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Yesterday I decided to look into this by doing the following:

Here's a webpage where there is an illustrated tutorial showing how to adjust the rangefinders on Super Ikontas and Moskvas. http://www.dantestella.com/technical/superfix.html

 

[CliveC]

I think I may be going nuts. A bit of a tale ahead:

I bought a Moskva 5 with a known rangefinder problem, one that I thought I may be able to tackle because of the lack of moving parts under the top plate.

So I do a "blind" clean by carefully sticking a Q-tip into the rangefinder ports and wiping the glass beneath. Indeed, it seems to have improved things and I can see overlapping images. Rotating the focus ring does move the image left and right. Distances are actually pretty close. Fantastic.

Skip forward a few days: I pick up the camera and I can't use the rangefinder. All I see is the image from the left window in a small circle (in essence, the rangefinder patch). If I put a finger over the window, it's darkness.

I opened up the camera and extracted the beamsplitter/prism unit and noticed immediately that there is a crack on the right side mirrored surface, but the mirroring seems to be intact. The angle looks correct as well. While it's possible that my Q-tip trick damaged it, the top plate has a bit of a dent on the right side, so possibly a previous owner took a tumble.

Looking through the beamsplitter/prism on its own, I can see both images, however if I look straight ahead, I see the image from the left side of the prism, if I peer to the right, I see a clear image of what the right side should see, straight ahead. They don't intersect. While the gold/yellow reflective part is fading a bit, there still seems to be enough left. There's no way my Q-tip ruined the beamsplitter mirror material, you can't touch it without disassembling the prism unit.

When the beamsplitter unit is back in the camera, the little holes where the viewing ports mount block the right side of the image, so only the left image appears.

To me, the beamsplitter unit on the camera is not adjustable. There are two mounting screws in front of the unit that offer no range in movement. The factory seems to have even taped it down in addition to screwing it in place.

(Not my pic, but looks the same)

Am I missing something obvious? Can the prism be adjusted somehow? I don't think adjusting the swing out portion would help because I can't even see that part from the rangefinder window.

I've kind of resigned myself to having a scale-focus Moskva 5, but it'd be nice to know where I screwed up and if it can be fixed.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Hey, Clive!

I sold Msk-5 last year to young local fella. I told him here is nothing wrong with RF it just how bad they made them in Msk-5. He called me next day and was asking for links for how to fix it....

At the picture you provided it is not going to be two images, because front part of RF is removed. Just in case.

My first Msk-5 was with separated semi-mirror from the block. As result - dead RF in camera which was never ever used.
Have to buy second Msk-5 for donor prism. Once it was in place and RF alighted, light leaks from back door windows. And they are not easy to fix, because the way they made them.

My honest advice, sell it for parts. Msk-5 is not good camera from this family.

I have Msk-2, working copy of original Zeiss.
If you like, I could show it to you.
I have for sale almost all of my film gear to have money for my first M.

 

[CliveC]

Thanks Konstantin,
Yeah, I had a feeling that if you separate out the semi-mirror from the prism block, the rangefinder is basically gone.

I'll keep an eye out for a Moskva with a shutter problem so I can do a swap of the prism, but the camera should still be ok for scale focusing shooting for now. I also have a non-coupled Ikonta RF Folder 524/16, which although is only 6x6, looks pretty good to shoot as well.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Or check on ebay for Smena and Blik external FSU RFs. They are in meters. I use similar from Vioghtlander for my Ihagee and Bessa 66.
My Msk-2 is same price, almost 🙂