IIIg Rangefinder Brightness

[rmeskill]

So I just picked up a IIIg (for which I posted another thread below on what compact 50 I should pair with it) and I couldn't help but notice the rangefinder's awfully dark. In bright daylight it's perfectly serviceable, but in anything resembling questionable light it's nearly entirely unusable. Indoors, even aimed directly at a lamp, for example, the latent image is terribly faint and very difficult to use on anything but the most contrasty of subjects (for example, I'm aiming it across the room now at a hydrogen peroxide bottle directly under a lamp-black bottle, white label-moderately easy to line up, but the base of the lamp, with a textured/tiered black stand, is barely distinguishable. The main image itself is bright and fine, it's just the latent/second one. Is this normal for a Barnack? Or do I need to have the RF serviced?

Thanks,

-Ryan

 

[BTMarcais]

Sounds like you might need a service? My IIIG is by no means as easy to focus as my M3, but I can definitely see and focus w/ it even in dark smoky bar light.
You do need to have your eye centered more precisely over the eyepiece than you do w/ the M or you might not see the RF patch as well. And make sure you focus the RF patch! that helps a lot in some situations.
The main image and the RF image are not optically connected at all, so it's definitely possible to have one be bright and one be dark.
Take a look through the windows from the front of the camera, with a light source behind, and see if you can see any haze or fungus or dirt or whatever inside.

And don't ask me about 50's. I own 7 or 8 or so. My advice won't help you pick just one... ;-)

-Brian

 

[Keith (M)]

I agree with Brian, it definitely sounds like a service is needed. I just took delivery this morning of a 1956 IIIg (my first LTM) and both the viewfinder and rangefinder are both easily useable indoors. In fact the brightness of the viewfinder is about the same as my M4 and M7. The view through the rangefinder window is slightly akin to looking through a tunnel but the focus-patch is easily discernible and easy to use because of it's greater magnification.

 

[wolves3012]

If the moving image is faint it's going to be either a murky element in the optical path or - more likely - a fading half-mirror. The half-mirror can be replaced quite easily. Cover the RF window nearest the rewind to get an idea how bright the moving image is alone.

You can buy an orange filter to help with poor contrast but I'd suggest that correcting the real problem is a better option. I have no problem at all using the RF on my IIIC in quite poor lighting (indoors, streetlights etc).