Kodak Medalist II - viewfinder/rangefinder question

[Denverdad]

Hello all! Having just acquired my very first rangefinder - a Kodak Medalist II - I figured now would be as good a time as any to finally end my lurking on this forum and join in the conversation with other members of the RF "club." 😀 Aside from simply sharing the glee of my most recent GAS attack purchase, I do have one very specific question that I am hoping other Medalist users may be able to answer.

But first, you should know that the camera was bought at some risk due to the Ebay listing being one of those classic "found-it-at-an-estate-sale-and-don't-know-anything-about-it" ads. As you can imagine, I have been eager to asses its condition and determine how much work is going to be required to get it fully functional. To that end I have been putting it through its paces following an online manual to test its functions, taking note of any flaws, and most importantly just getting acquainted with this bulbous (but beautiful!) beast.

So far things are looking fairly good. One happy moment occurred when I discovered that a defect on one of the lens surfaces, which I had worried might be fungus or perhaps a separation in one of the doublets (and kind of a deal-breaker for me really), turned out to be just a simple smudge. Thanks to a previous thread on the forum I realized that the front lens assembly simply unscrewed, so I was able to gain access and easily clean the smudge. So far so good!

My next task (and herein lies my question) is to see if I can remove a splotch of crud from inside the viewfinder which is currently giving me a rather cloudy view. So, can anyone tell me how to access the inside of the rangefinder/viewfinder "box" on the top of the camera? Obviously I don't want to select the wrong set of screws and then have to deal with a major mechanical linkage and alignment headache. But I have read on these posts of people cleaning the viewfinder so it seems like it should be fairly easy.

BTW, I appreciate that the camera may end up needing a professional CLA, and possibly other work to bring it back to good health. I have no problem doing that if necessary. But I would like to first tackle the easy stuff myself wherever possible, and hopefully get a better sense of whether this particular one is a keeper or not, before spending a bunch of money on servicing.

So that's it. I have a number of other questions waiting in the wings, but I will leave it at that for now.


Thanks,

Jeff

 

[ErnestoJL]

HI! Welcome to the forum!
Just unscrew four screws, two in the rear under VF/RF window, the other two in the front close to the RF windows.
Cleaning the VF is easy as it has prisms, not mirrors, then there is no risk of spoiling it. Use a cotton swab or soft fabric. Take care not to alter alignment of the parallax correction mask.
You´ll notice a dramatic improvement in the VF after this.
Cheers
Ernesto

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Not sure if this is the case with the Medalist II, resetting the distance scale to the matching focus distance is a little tricky when putting the top of the VF/RF back on.

 

[ZeissFan]

Use a small piece of fishing line or thread to hold the distance scale in place when replacing the top. One the top is seated, pull out the line.

I've used the fishing line method for some other cameras.

 

[Denverdad]

Thanks for the help guys - that's what I was looking for!

But just to be clear, will I lose the distance scale setting with the rangefinder/viewfinder assembly removed? I want to make sure I understand this before I remove the screws.

Jeff

 

[Mr_Flibble]

When you take the top cover off the VF/RF housing, the dial will come off with it. The spring underneath it will pull it out of sync.

As I recall to put the top back on:

• I removed the glass cover of the dial (by loosening two little screws on the side).
• Completely extended the lens.
• Held the dial at the closest focus distance and drop the top on the housing.

 

[Denverdad]

Update

Update

With your help from yesterday, I was able to clean my VF; and it turns out it was pretty easy! (well mostly). For the benefit of anyone else trying to do this let me add a few comments. First what kept me from tackling this earlier was that I had not appreciated that the four optics you see on the top assembly are actually attached to the cover, rather than protruding through it. Each lens/window is mounted in a bezel which in turn is attached to the cover via simple metal tabs which hold them in place, but they are not attached to anything inside.

When I removed the top with the windows/lenses attached nothing really happened to the distance scale. It turns out that the glass with the fixed scale on it (i.e., the black and white dial in the center) is fixed to the cover; but there is no connection to the rotating part of the distance scale below - at least not with my Medalist II anyway. No special tricks were needed to keep or set this alignment. As long as I didn't touch the mechanism on the camera (or somehow rotate the glass in the cover) I knew there would be no issue.

I decided to remove the VF lenses from their bezels to clean them more easily. The second VF lens (the large one at the front) had a very stubborn stain which I was eventually able to clean off. Unfortunately, the first VF lens (the eye lens) had a "stain" which I was not able to remove. The defect appears to be inside, as cleaning either outer surface didn't seem to help. I believe that the little rectangular lens part of this optic is actually cemented to the flat portion, and it may be that the two parts are starting to separate. Well that's my guess anyway! It is disappointing since the VF is still kind of hazy due to this, but at least it is a lot better than it was!

Jeff

 

[Denverdad]

new problems, questions

new problems, questions

Ok, on to the next question!

Initially I was having a problem with the counter knob tending to stay "locked." For example, when I loaded film the first time, at the point where you are supposed to depress and move the counter to "1", the counter knob would not turn. After resetting everything (removing the film in a changing bag and then just starting over), everything went normally. I managed to run one roll through the camera without incident, and was able to show that the shutter and rangefinder seem to be working properly (at least roughly), and that there are no light leaks.

Since that first roll however, I have encountered a new and more debilitating problem - the wind knob is completely locked up! I cannot wind the film on due to this. Depressing and rotating/setting the film counter has no effect. Of course I tried cocking the shutter lever and actuating the shutter; both with the button and with a cable release. But after many cycles of shutter actuation and trying different combinations of other things (e.g., having the back cover on or off, having the lens extended or retracted, etc.), I can't find any way to get the wind knob to budge. Am just missing something in the loading sequence here? Or is this a mechanical malfunction requiring repair?

There is also a quirk with shutter actuation that I should mention (maybe it is related?). Basically I can only cock the shutter when the lens is completely retracted, and similarly I can only fire the shutter when the lens extended. This seems to be a new thing. But the little work around of retracting the lens in order to cock the shutter doesn't really mean much since I can no longer load film in the first place!

So, does anyone know a fix for these problems, or perhaps can point to some error I am making which has the wind knob locked? Or is it time to suck it up and send it in for repair?


Jeff

 

[johannielscom]

IIRC, on mine the shutter sometimes does not complete the cycle, although it did open and close properly if this happens. I usually wobble the lever at the side of the lens that has kind of a flash synchro function, and only then does the shutter cycle fully complete, with a little click which is hardly audible but you can feel it in the lever. After that, the shutter cycle is complete and everything works.

My shutter is a bit slow at times. I have found it is more reliable when I move the flash synchro lever half an inch after cocking the shutter, so that the flash synch also engages when I fire the shutter.

I'm told that a stop at Ken Ruth of Photogrpahy on Bald Mountain, CA can get rid of any quirkyness and will restore your Medalist to as-new working condition. Hearsay, but from a lot of people!

 

[Denverdad]

IIRC, on mine the shutter sometimes does not complete the cycle, although it did open and close properly if this happens. I usually wobble the lever at the side of the lens that has kind of a flash synchro function, and only then does the shutter cycle fully complete, with a little click which is hardly audible but you can feel it in the lever. After that, the shutter cycle is complete and everything works.

My shutter is a bit slow at times. I have found it is more reliable when I move the flash synchro lever half an inch after cocking the shutter, so that the flash synch also engages when I fire the shutter.

I'm told that a stop at Ken Ruth of Photogrpahy on Bald Mountain, CA can get rid of any quirkyness and will restore your Medalist to as-new working condition. Hearsay, but from a lot of people!

Johan, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately it didn't have any effect. Perhaps my camera's "quirkiness" level is just too high! Haha. It sounds like I may need to give Mr. Ruth a call.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

The thing with the distance scale on your camera, must be an improvement over the Medalist I. 😉

Shame to see your II is not behaving properly.

 

[Denverdad]

Shame to see your II is not behaving properly.

Eh, no big deal really. I got what I think was a fair price on the camera to begin with (~ $113 US). Besides, I always assume an older camera like this is going to need a CLA to bring it back to life. Of course I always hope for that not to be the case, but it is not really a surprise when it does. When I first opened the package, I was mostly just relieved to see that it was in as good a shape as it was - cosmetically, and in terms of the lens being very clean, the shutter working and apparently being fairly accurate, etc.

My feeling after using it (granted, only a short time while the wind mechanism was still working), was that it is a really fun and interesting camera to work with! Part of that my be just because it is my first ever experience with a rangefinder. But the lens turns out to be a real winner, and oh what a kick seeing those big 6x9's on the light table for the first time! 😀

Here is a sample if anyone is curious. This is a hand-held snapshot I took on a hike into the mountains here in Colorado, mostly just to test it out with its first roll of film, check for any light leaks, see if the exposures came out nominally correct, etc. I think with a little work I am going to be very happy with this camera.