how to question

[unclegeoff]

Hi

I've just aquired a contina J which is the first rangefinder I have ever hand my hands on. I am familiar with my SLRs of this era, but I cannot for the life of me work out how to use the the ight frame overlay to help with focusing or calculating distance.

Can anyone please give me an insight ( idiot's guide) on how it should work/be used?

Regards

 

[ben lloyd]

Rangefinders work by overlapping the 2 images in the central part of the frame. One will stay constant, the other will move left or right as you focus the lens. Once they match up that object (or part of object) is in focus.

I had a quick google for the Contina J, it appears to be a rare model, and there are no clear pictures of it that I can find. However from the ones I saw it isn't clear that it is definitely a rangefinder, it may just be a viewfinder. In which case you have to use your best guess for distance and use the distance marks on the lens combined with the depth of field indicators.

Best of luck.

 

[unclegeoff]

Hi Ben

I've assumed iot's a rangefinder because it has the second window and some sort of prism in the camera top. If I place a piece of paper over the second window the frame disapears from the view finder. Moving the focus ring has no perseptible effect of the view. I couldn't find anything about this model which is why I posted here. Of course, I could be completely wrong. It has been known!

Thanks for your response.

 

[ben lloyd]

I think the second window might just be for illuminating the framelines, if there isn't any obvious patch (square/ circular or round) in the middle of the frame then I'm afraid it isn't a rangefinder. Also the second window would be mostly opaque with a small centre section of clear glass.

Can you post a picture of the front of the camera?

 

[unclegeoff]

Hi Ben
I think you are right. I've had the lid off and there is no mechanism I can see which has any effect on the focus. Just a prism.There is no obvious patch so I guess it's just a simple camera. What a shame. I will post a piccie tomorrow if only because it is an unusual model.

Thanks again for youe help

 

[unclegeoff]

Contina j

Contina j

Hi Ben

I've attached a pic of the camera.
It's a pity it isn't a rangefinder because I was looking forward to using it after reading so many good tings about them. Oh well. Back to the Rollei
Thanks again for your help.