fgianni
Trainee Amateur
My RD-1 has a slightly misaligned RF, is there anyone in the UK that re-aligns RD-1 rangefinders?
Thanks
Thanks
Gid
Well-known
Misaligned how?
jimbobuk
Established
if its vertical misalignment have a go at fixing it yourself.. I put a post with pictures when i did mine for the first time a month or two ago. If its others its less easy and i can't help you.
Overall i'd recommend having a go at the vertical one.. just be careful its easy to do cosmetic damage trying to get the flash hotshoe cover off.
Overall i'd recommend having a go at the vertical one.. just be careful its easy to do cosmetic damage trying to get the flash hotshoe cover off.
fgianni
Trainee Amateur
It is vertical misalignment, but strangely enough at close distance is OK, while near infinity is a lot visible.
Trying to move the screw of the vertical alignment seems to move the problem (I can have a RF perfectly aligned at infinity and significantly disaligned close up) but I am unable to get completely rid of it.
Trying to move the screw of the vertical alignment seems to move the problem (I can have a RF perfectly aligned at infinity and significantly disaligned close up) but I am unable to get completely rid of it.
pfogle
Well-known
I have the same problem... in my camera the RF rectangle is slightly off horizontal, so I think the mirror/prism moves a little up or down when I focus.
I set the vertical alignment to be on at about 3m distance, which is where I usually am focusing. It's a compromise but it works ok for me. YMMV.
I don't know of a fix for this problem. It could entail rebuilding the RF
Sorry not to be much help!
Phil
I set the vertical alignment to be on at about 3m distance, which is where I usually am focusing. It's a compromise but it works ok for me. YMMV.
I don't know of a fix for this problem. It could entail rebuilding the RF
Sorry not to be much help!
Phil
Last edited:
fgianni
Trainee Amateur
It would be nice if someone in the UK could service the RD-1 RF, it is not such an exotic beast, it must be identical to the Bessa R one!
Fred
Feline Great
Try an e-mail or call to Robert White (allegedly the UK importer of CV goods) who may be able to help or give Ffordes a call in Scotland. They still deal with RF kit and may be able to give some pointers. I'm suggesting sending it to them just seeing if they know a regular Mr Fixit.
Gid
Well-known
It might be worth talking to these guys http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/
I don't know if they do anything other than Leica, but dismantling RF systems seems to be no problem for them.
I don't know if they do anything other than Leica, but dismantling RF systems seems to be no problem for them.
Gid
Well-known
One other possibility. The left hand screw of the three visible also has an effect on RF alignment - I found this out by accident because someone had posted that this was the infinity focus adjustment and its not, its the middle one for that. Anyway, I noticed that if I adjusted this screw the vertical alignment changed. I quickly put it back where it was, so didn't try and see what a combination of the two would do, but it might be worth a look. This is rumoured to have something to do with RF patch clarity/focus?? Also, I noticed that when I adjusted the infinity focus, I had to readjust the vertical alignment and again this may be something worth exploring.
Fred
Feline Great
Having just aquired an old Bessa R (even the new ones are old now I guess) I do have the following theory, I may be wrong so please feel free to correct me.
The Bessa R shares a similar but not identical RF mechanism to the RD-1 right. The subtle difference is that the RF spot on the R moves with the frame lines for parallax correction. The RD-1 and R3A (and maybe the R2A) it does not.
I noticed this when checking the alignment near and far on the R, far away it was fine, close up it was slightly out untill I moved the position of my eye in the finder and all was very well. Now I guess that CV got fed up with complaints and decided that if they left the spot in the same place people would not move the view point (as I did) as the framelines move. So maybe its natural for us to slightly move the view point very slightly as the lines move, in theory anyway.
OK in a nutshell, try a distant object that has a very near point in the RF patch as well, try a stick in the ground, then refocus without changeing eye position. If its still a out of whack I'm out of ideas.
Thats it folkes.
The Bessa R shares a similar but not identical RF mechanism to the RD-1 right. The subtle difference is that the RF spot on the R moves with the frame lines for parallax correction. The RD-1 and R3A (and maybe the R2A) it does not.
I noticed this when checking the alignment near and far on the R, far away it was fine, close up it was slightly out untill I moved the position of my eye in the finder and all was very well. Now I guess that CV got fed up with complaints and decided that if they left the spot in the same place people would not move the view point (as I did) as the framelines move. So maybe its natural for us to slightly move the view point very slightly as the lines move, in theory anyway.
OK in a nutshell, try a distant object that has a very near point in the RF patch as well, try a stick in the ground, then refocus without changeing eye position. If its still a out of whack I'm out of ideas.
Thats it folkes.