Rangefinder Newbie, Can't Focus?

[GenericName]

I have been given a Yashica 72-E recently. The light meter and shutter work fine, but when i look through the viewfinder, all i see is a clear image.
I might be missing something, but the focusing ring doesn't appear to do anything.
There is something rattling around in the top of the camera, this could be something to do with this?
How would i go about repairing such a mechanism?

 

[ZorkiKat]

You won't see anything 'happening' through the finder. The VF is just a window. You won't see any focusing action because there is no RF (or a reflex finder as in SLRs) in this camera. Focusing is by scale- set the estimated distance, and that's it. Sight through the finder, and snap! That's all there is to it.

The rattling most likely has nothing to do with what you observed. It may be a loose part, but definitely nothing about seeing focusing action happening through the VF.

Repair to check the rattling sound? Send it to professional repair.

 

[GenericName]

Well don't I feel stupid now! Thanks for your help, but just one more question: Would the lens have a rather large DOF? If not then I imagine most of my images turning out blurry

 

[MartinP]

I have a Pen-EE half-frame camera that has no focussing at all (the very first model, fixed-focus at maybe 3m or so) so it would depend on where you had the focus set and how small an aperture you used. You might not be totally unlucky!

 

[Greyscale]

Well don't I feel stupid now! Thanks for your help, but just one more question: Would the lens have a rather large DOF? If not then I imagine most of my images turning out blurry

A lot of that will depend on the film used, and the amount of light. If you use a film that is too fast, or too slow, for the environment, you do stand more of a chance for blurry images. With a top shutter speed of only 250, the camera was not really designed for faster emulsions, but will probably work quite well with the proper film for the environment. On a sunny day, 100ASA film will probably be the fastest film that you will want to use. Cloudy days, or near dusk or indoors, use a faster film. Just pay attention to the meter and set the f-stop and shutter speed accordingly.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Well don't I feel stupid now! Thanks for your help, but just one more question: Would the lens have a rather large DOF? If not then I imagine most of my images turning out blurry

The lens on that camera is a 28mm or so. Short FL, moderate f/stop, and focused at a moderate (3 metres approx) and you'll have plenty of DOF to take care of focusing.

Note that in this camera's day, the usual "output" was an album sized print. Not even postcard sized. At small magnifications like this, the focus deficiencies don't matter much.

What happens now usually is the negatives get scanned, and the scanned file is viewed on the computer. The typical screen is much much larger than the album prints of yore. If you pixel peep, you may probably conclude that most of your shots are out of focus- but not really if you view at "picture" level.

 

[ZorkiKat]

A lot of that will depend on the film used, and the amount of light. If you use a film that is too fast, or too slow, for the environment, you do stand more of a chance for blurry images. With a top shutter speed of only 250, the camera was not really designed for faster emulsions, but will probably work quite well with the proper film for the environment. On a sunny day, 100ASA film will probably be the fastest film that you will want to use. Cloudy days, or near dusk or indoors, use a faster film. Just pay attention to the meter and set the f-stop and shutter speed accordingly.

My Olympus-Pen (the original Pen) has a shutter which goes only to 1/200, but I can put ISO 400 through it. An exposure of f/16 @ 1/200 for bright days does quite well on Fuji Superia 400 or even Fuji Neopan 400.