Need advice: Argus finder on Leica

[payasam]

The 35-50-100 turret finder which a friend's son got for me off eBay seemed just what I wanted for my IIIc until I had it in my hands and tried to put it on the camera. It was made in Liechtenstein, is marked "Argus", and has the strangest foot I have ever seen. A curved piece of thin spring steel goes into the shoe while the only solid metal part is meant to seat *on top* of the rails of the shoe. It was hopelessly loose, so I removed the spring steel piece and carefully increased the curvature on both sides before putting it back. I shall not make it more curvaceous although the finder is still a bit loose. This is because even if it were to be a tight fit, the finder would rotate on top of the body: the spring steel piece is not as wide as the inside of the shoe. One axis OK, the other not. I have so far managed by strategically pushing folded strips of cigarette packets into various spaces and trying my best to remember to check constantly that the finder looks to the front and not to either side; but this, I feel, is not the best course. Every change of lens and every change of parallax correction is a risk. More troublesome is the fact that I must keep the finder on the body, even in the bag, since taking it off and putting it back on is injurious to the health of carefully cut pieces of cigarette packets. An obvious solution is strips of metal or, even better, a rectangular C-shaped piece of the correct thickness. What I want to know is, would anyone who has messed about with this particular combination be willing to hold my paw.

 

[laptoprob]

Pic please?
Sounds to me like a piece is missing. The spring part could be working together with a - missing - screw and shoemount bit.
I had something like that with my 35mm Steinheil finder, the parallax correcting bit was missing. In the end I just sawed the pieces to fitting size and glued them together.

 

[richiedcruz]

I have the same problem with the Argus turret finder and my IIIC, and tried the same solution but it just got to be too frustrating. The only cameras that I can get it to work with are modern cameras that have springs in the hot shoes to keep it from moving.

I find that Leicas seem to work best with either Leitz or Leitz replica viewfinders. I use a generic Japanese made copy of a Leitz Rasuk finder that I bought for very little.

Interestingly, I bought my Argus turret finder to use with my Argus C3 (a later model with an accessory shoe built in) but it does work in the Argus's shoe either 🙄

Richie

 

[payasam]

Thanks, Rob and Richie, for wading through my interminable post. Rob, there's no indication that anything is missing. Richie's experience would tend to confirm this. To take a picture I'd have to unmount the finder -- and putting it back on, with padding and stuffing and all, is not my idea of two hours well spent. Ah, standardisation...