Brennotdan
Established
Hey, I could use some help with my Vivitar (greyhoundman, if you're out there....). I adjusted the rf on the vivitar 35es to infinity using a cloud. I shot a roll and everything was out of focus. I checked it with an SLR and a piece of film at the film plane and found it to be over at infinity. I then adjusted the vivitar to match infinity at this point (around the 15 foot mark on the lens) and now the closest focus distance is around 2 meters, and the rf goes past infinity. Is this a problem I can fix, or a deeper rooted problem with the lens collimation?
Regards,
Brendan
Regards,
Brendan
greyhoundman
Well-known
Don't use clouds. 
Use a tower or tall building with sharp edges about 1/2 mile from you. Set the lens to infinity as per markings. Then adjust the RF to make the images match.
Use a tower or tall building with sharp edges about 1/2 mile from you. Set the lens to infinity as per markings. Then adjust the RF to make the images match.
Brennotdan
Established
Don't use clouds.
Use a tower or tall building with sharp edges about 1/2 mile from you. Set the lens to infinity as per markings. Then adjust the RF to make the images match.
I used a cloud, as well as a radio/cellphone type tower across the river (about 1/2 mile) and they agreed. Using a cloud sounds funny though so I wrote that.
greyhoundman
Well-known
Has the camera taken a hit on the lens area? It just suddenly went out of adjustment?
Brennotdan
Established
It hasn't taken a hit, I only brought it out once and it was used gently. What I am saying is that the SLR method and distant object method of adjusting the rf are not agreeing with one another, although I may have done one or the other incorrectly.
greyhoundman
Well-known
I have never done the slr bit. I have a very nice tower about 1/2 mile away.
I would try the distant tower again. Take your time and be sure the two images are exactly lined up. It doesn't take much error to have blurry pics.
I would try the distant tower again. Take your time and be sure the two images are exactly lined up. It doesn't take much error to have blurry pics.
Brennotdan
Established
update: I adjusted the rangefinder using a distant object, shot a roll wide open and the focus was about 3 feet behind the subject! I then used a tape measure to adjust to .9 m for close focus. The split images now focus way way past infinity, but now let me focus on a close up object. I happened to be in a dim hardware store with the camera so I had my friend hold a tape measure so I could shoot it and see how far off it was(2 inches, which gets further off as you increase distance from subject right?). It also gave me a better idea of the DOF at 1.7 at this distance (about 3 inches). I love this camera stopped down, and from this last roll, I can tell that once I am able to shoot it wide I will be very very happy.