IIIf rangefinder adjustment in Seattle?

[n5jrn]

I did some tests on my Leica IIIf and it's definitely front-focusing a bit with both my lenses. It's only truly annoying when shooting wide-open, but a rangefinder camera that can't be shot wide-open and critically focused isn't much of a rangefinder camera. So it sounds to me like it needs adjustment.

Are there any Seattle-area RFFers who can recommend a local place I could take my IIIf to for rangefinder adjustment, or is it really best to send it to DAG or Sherry for that? My worry about the latter option is that it will get handled roughly on its return trip, and be out of alignment by the time I receive it back.

 

[Vickko]

Try Youxin Ye.

Or Steve's Camera ... http://www.stevecamera.com/contact.html


With proper packing (body in bubblewrap, then bubblewrapped body in box of foam peanuts), it should arrive in good alignment, back to you.

Are your lenses working properly on other cameras?

Is the IIIf rangefinder showing proper alignment at infinity?

When I read "front-focusing", I usually interpret it as the camera-lens viewing is showing that it is focused, but the image is focused closer than expected, and it is the lens that needs adjustment.

 

[Brian Legge]

Alignment may to be quick and simple; a single screw adjustment really. I'd swing by CameraTech first before thinking about sending it out to see if its a simple fix.

 

[n5jrn]

Are your lenses working properly on other cameras?

Is the IIIf rangefinder showing proper alignment at infinity?

When I read "front-focusing", I usually interpret it as the camera-lens viewing is showing that it is focused, but the image is focused closer than expected, and it is the lens that needs adjustment.

Yes, that is what I mean: when my film is developed, I am finding that my shots are consistently focused in front of where I was making the rangefinder images coincide. This is of course most noticeable on low-light shots when I am shooting with the lens wide open.

It's much harder to tell the exact focal plane of the 35mm lens (slower lens plus intrinsically greater depth of field), but my images with it are completely consistent with it front-focusing to a degree identical to my 50mm lens. I do not have another body I can mount my lenses on for testing. I think the odds that they both are mis-adjusted to front focus the same amount are quite remote, which is why I suspect the body.

I actually set up a test configuration to verify this, mounting the camera on a tripod and marking off 10cm increments on the hall floor with masking tape. There is about 20cm of front focus when coinciding the rangefinder images on a target 110cm distant, and about 50cm of front focus when coinciding the rangefinder on a target 230cm distant. I shot both targets with both lenses, and they both front focus to the same degree so far as I can discern.

 

[Brian Legge]

When you have the lens set to infinity, is the rangefinder patch lined up perfectly for objects a long distance away (for example, a distant light)?

If so, there are a few possibilities:

- The rangefinder gain may be off. I haven't had to adjust this on a Leica before but it goes beyond the simple adjustment.
- You could be dealing with focus shift where the lens itself is optimized for a distance other than near focus. This could be adjusted but would reduce the focus at other ranges.
- You could be hitting parallax issues with the finder (ie shifting from left to right slightly may put the focus where you want it. To me this becomes more of a precision issue but I've bumped into it more with other cameras.

I stand by my recommendation though. 🙂

 

[n5jrn]

When you have the lens set to infinity, is the rangefinder patch lined up perfectly for objects a long distance away (for example, a distant light)?

The most distant lights I can see when I step outside right now are about 1/4 mile distant (and it's nasty and blustery enough a night I'm not tempted to go for a walk to where there's a better view), and when I set the lens at infinity I see double images. If I back the lens a little away from infinity, then things coincide -- and at that point, of course, any shot would show front focus.

A little googling turns up this page:
http://www.mediajoy.com/en/lrc/lbal/index.html

I'm normally loathe to start taking apart a working camera, but this procedure sounds so simple that I think I'll give it a try in the next few days. Really, it's just one screw (my rangefinder's images are already lined up OK vertically, they are just off horizontally).

 

[Dave S.]

I have been very happy with the work that Doug has done for me at:

Camera Clinic
518 Northeast 165th Street
Shoreline, WA 98155
(206) 367-2440

However, I have never had him do Leica work for me (Alas, I have never owned a Leica). He repaired an Agfa Super Solinette and a Retina IIa for me.

 

[Brian Legge]

Thats good! Getting infinity aligned would be the first step. Hopefully thats the entirety of the adjustment needed.

Quick job for someone in a shop (or you if you are so inclined and have a screw driver small enough). Just be gentle and slow if you decide to do it yourself.

 

[wolves3012]

Adjusting the infinity is simplicity itself, you just need one small screwdriver and one very small one. Take out the screw nearest to the VF window and the infinity adjustment screw is behind it. Turn the screw until the images align at infinity. Job done.

 

[KoNickon]

Yes, this is dead simple to do. You just need a clear view of an object at infinity to check your work. The magnfying vewfinder in the IIIf makes precise adjustment very sure.

 

[n5jrn]

Yup, it's definitely off at infinity. Well, off at 239,000 miles which is close enough to infinity for my purposes 🙂 . The sky cleared enough this afternoon for the Moon to be visible, and the images converge when the scale on barrel of my Summitar says 75 feet.

So now it's off to the hardware store to look for screwdrivers fine enough to fit the relevant screws on my IIIf. Whatever they cost, it will be cheaper than the fee of having someone else calibrate the RF, and then I'll have the tools on hand to re-calibrate it for free in the future.

 

[plummerl]

Yup, it's definitely off at infinity. Well, off at 239,000 miles which is close enough to infinity for my purposes 🙂 . The sky cleared enough this afternoon for the Moon to be visible, and the images converge when the scale on barrel of my Summitar says 75 feet.

So now it's off to the hardware store to look for screwdrivers fine enough to fit the relevant screws on my IIIf. Whatever they cost, it will be cheaper than the fee of having someone else calibrate the RF, and then I'll have the tools on hand to re-calibrate it for free in the future.

For a great selection of precision screwdrivers, check out Hardwicks on Roosevelt at 42nd st. (three blocks due east of the Big Time 😀). Their selection of fine tools is to die for.

 

[semilog]

Hardwick's -- best gearhead store in all of Seattle. Not quite to tools what Powell's is to books, but no less splendid in its way.

 

[n5jrn]

Think just I fixed it. Though if this is an "easy" DIY camera repair job, I think I'll continue to leave most work to the professionals. I found it to be very fiddly and nerve-wracking in its own way, mainly because I had great difficulty in seeing any screw beneath the outer screw, and my initial attempts seemed to indicate either a seized or a very stiff adjustment screw. And I have essentially no innate sense when it comes to such things -- either I seem to chicken out way too soon, or I force things and cause far more damage than there was originally. At that point, I almost gave up.

Eventually, using a 10x hand loupe and aiming the hole so that sunlight illuminated it, I was able to barely discern a tiny black screw pointing upwards at about a 45 degree angle. Once I put my 1.2mm jewler's screwdriver at something approaching a matching angle, the set screw turned without too much resistance. (Thankfully I had chickened out on my previous attempts before stripping away the slot on it.)

I started gradually edging it counterclockwise, based on what I had read was the correct direction to turn a FED's set screw to correct front-focus. After four or five such incremental adjustments (then taking a trip to the backyard to sight the moon), I now see only one moon when I sight it through the rangefinder.

Now to load it up with Tri-X and try some available light shots wide open.

By the way, a Weha slotted screwdriver with a 2.5mm blade (purchased yesterday for this purpose) engaged the outer screw perfectly. Inner one was engaged by a garden-variety 1.2mm jeweler's screwdriver (already had one of those).

 

[f16sunshine]

I have been very happy with the work that Doug has done for me at:

Camera Clinic
518 Northeast 165th Street
Shoreline, WA 98155
(206) 367-2440

However, I have never had him do Leica work for me (Alas, I have never owned a Leica). He repaired an Agfa Super Solinette and a Retina IIa for me.

Yeah I've had good work done by Doug also.
Scott up at NW camera in Everett is worth a call also.

 

[n5jrn]

Drat! It's still front-focusing by about 20cm at close distances (i.e. when I converge the images on a target 110cm away, the lens is focused at 90cm), even though it's now spot-on at infinity. If one were to plot the rangefinder as a linear function (y = mx + b), the screw-behind-the-screw apparently changes m. I need to change b (I think m was OK before I messed with it, because the rangefinder was always front-focusing lenses at all distances, by about the same proportion).

Somehow, I have this feeling that whatever adjustment I need is not so simple to do.

 

[John Shriver]

Well, you have the formula wrong. Think of the infinity adjustment as the zero intercept (-b). The rate, which is how fast the rangefinder moves as you focus the lens, is your m.

So your rate is off. It is adjusted by changing the effective length of the rangefinder arm. On the IIIf, the pivot that the roller on the end of the arm rolls on is eccentric. Loosen the setscrew, rotate, and re-tighten the setscrew.

Be sure that you are using a lens with an accurate focusing scale. The 50mm lenses are most likely to be so.

Note (of course) that the focusing distances are from the film plane.