R
ruben
Guest
Since some of the participants are still waiting for their training cameras to arrive, and others have not performed yet the "X-Ray-Test", I will take the advantage of time to expose some thoughts about where are we going and how, in this Part I.
Recent personal contacts I have had, upon a related thread going on "Question About Helical Mount", and the postings there by some of the highest minds on the matter, further strengthen in me the need for the following somewhat personal reflections.
In Part 1 we are about to plunge into Kiev Cleaning Lubrication and Adjustment. Is this going to be "a real CLA" ? I have no idea.
Then where are we going ?
Perhaps it will help you to know that after reading and learning from the Kiev Survival Site more than two dozen times, plus Peter Tooke's book, plus Henry Scherer website, plus other sources and materials, I find that in general this is not a highly harmony orquestra. There are serious disagreements on different issues.
So in general, it will not harm you if you keep a good eye open for opinions diverging with mine. It will enrich your knowledge, and there is a good chance they may be more right that me.
As far as I approach it, CLA is very much a matter of personal approach and knowledge, based on diverging experience and available instruments and materials. Like darkroom processing and printing. Like Photography in general. Like life.
But our starting point was to achieve the softening of our cameras, via the adjusting of the curtains tension. In order to arrive to this point in our best shape for judgement, we are going to clean our cameras and lubricate them.
The cleaning, as my direct experience tells me, is of utmost importance. So i am going to be somewhat fanatic about this issue. The cleaning is what will dictate the disassembling, including the disassembling of the optical parts, forcing us to learn how to calibrate again our range finder.
Fortunately, on the basis of what I have learned at the KSS, I have found a more easy way to calibrate our range finder, without loosing any accuracy. It is within what is found at the KSS, but with different priorities. In the fortunate case Russ jumps in and says "Alert !", I will be happy to make a methodical pause for further thinking.
The Lubrication part will be rather minimal. What do I mean by minimal ? I mean using very very small amounts of grease and oil, but I mean too to lubricate almost anything that moves out there.
Hopefully a section about ribbons replacement will be introduced. Rick Oleson has already the sketches for it in his site, but I will try to have one with full color pictures, in full collaboration with him. (Dont fear Rick - I will do the pics under your managing direction). One of the first things we will do in our CLA will be curtain inspection. If we happen to recognize your ribbons are to break, we will do most of our CLA with these bad ribbons, taking their situation into accunt, and will replace them just before adjusting the curtains tension - the final stage of our CLA. At this stage we all will feel highly familiarized with the Kiev inners. There is nothing like an in-depht cleaning to bring us closer and knowledgeable of any instrument.
Finally I will offer some types of tests to comfirm accuracy of some parts, but I will not delay us too much there. Not that they are not important, but I am a bit afraid of delaying ourselves too much in the technical stuff.
Is this a good CLA or a not enough one ? As always, you will have to judge and give your final word. Trust your nose, as I trust mine.
Cheers,
Ruben
Recent personal contacts I have had, upon a related thread going on "Question About Helical Mount", and the postings there by some of the highest minds on the matter, further strengthen in me the need for the following somewhat personal reflections.
In Part 1 we are about to plunge into Kiev Cleaning Lubrication and Adjustment. Is this going to be "a real CLA" ? I have no idea.
Then where are we going ?
Perhaps it will help you to know that after reading and learning from the Kiev Survival Site more than two dozen times, plus Peter Tooke's book, plus Henry Scherer website, plus other sources and materials, I find that in general this is not a highly harmony orquestra. There are serious disagreements on different issues.
So in general, it will not harm you if you keep a good eye open for opinions diverging with mine. It will enrich your knowledge, and there is a good chance they may be more right that me.
As far as I approach it, CLA is very much a matter of personal approach and knowledge, based on diverging experience and available instruments and materials. Like darkroom processing and printing. Like Photography in general. Like life.
But our starting point was to achieve the softening of our cameras, via the adjusting of the curtains tension. In order to arrive to this point in our best shape for judgement, we are going to clean our cameras and lubricate them.
The cleaning, as my direct experience tells me, is of utmost importance. So i am going to be somewhat fanatic about this issue. The cleaning is what will dictate the disassembling, including the disassembling of the optical parts, forcing us to learn how to calibrate again our range finder.
Fortunately, on the basis of what I have learned at the KSS, I have found a more easy way to calibrate our range finder, without loosing any accuracy. It is within what is found at the KSS, but with different priorities. In the fortunate case Russ jumps in and says "Alert !", I will be happy to make a methodical pause for further thinking.
The Lubrication part will be rather minimal. What do I mean by minimal ? I mean using very very small amounts of grease and oil, but I mean too to lubricate almost anything that moves out there.
Hopefully a section about ribbons replacement will be introduced. Rick Oleson has already the sketches for it in his site, but I will try to have one with full color pictures, in full collaboration with him. (Dont fear Rick - I will do the pics under your managing direction). One of the first things we will do in our CLA will be curtain inspection. If we happen to recognize your ribbons are to break, we will do most of our CLA with these bad ribbons, taking their situation into accunt, and will replace them just before adjusting the curtains tension - the final stage of our CLA. At this stage we all will feel highly familiarized with the Kiev inners. There is nothing like an in-depht cleaning to bring us closer and knowledgeable of any instrument.
Finally I will offer some types of tests to comfirm accuracy of some parts, but I will not delay us too much there. Not that they are not important, but I am a bit afraid of delaying ourselves too much in the technical stuff.
Is this a good CLA or a not enough one ? As always, you will have to judge and give your final word. Trust your nose, as I trust mine.
Cheers,
Ruben
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