Where to get a RF horizontal calibrated?

[Shaocaholica]

Are there any places I can send my Bessa R3A to get the RF patch calibrated(horizontally)? I guess I could use the distance scale on my lens and put a target at the exact distance from the film plane and calibrate myself but I don't know if I can trust the distance scale on the lens to be accurate.

 

[Vickko]

You should calibrate with a ground glass, to be absolutely sure.

Vick

 

[Shaocaholica]

You should calibrate with a ground glass, to be absolutely sure.

Vick

Can you explain what this means?

 

[wyk_penguin]

Stick a piece of ground glass to your film rail, ground surface facing the lens. Keep the shutter open with B and a cable release. Check for infinity focus looking at the image on the ground glass using a 10X loupe while focusing on the moon or anything that has sharp and contrasty edges more than 400m away (what I do when I can't find the moon). Check to see if the RF agrees with the ground glass. If not, adjust the RF till it does.

Similar things can be done for targets at 1m, but that would be slightly more complicated.

I haven't cracked open my R3A yet, but I am sure many of the members here have had a go at it. I remember seeing a post about this.

 

[Shaocaholica]

So who offers this service? I guess I could do it myself. I have a few spare SLR focussing screens I could use but if paying someone else who has a workshop already setup for this sort of thing would also be nice if the price was right.

 

[wyk_penguin]

Where do you live. Plenty of people in the US who do this.

 

[Shaocaholica]

I live in LA.

Is there a name for this proceedure? I don't want to confuse anyone including myself as to what I want done.