Zeiss Contessa 35 - shutter and RF vertical alignment

[Rollei fan]

OK. I have a Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35, and I was at last brave enough to open the shutter and service it (longest times were sticky) using Zeiss fan's instructions I got here last fall. Just cleaning wasn't enough, it needed a little lubrication too on the gear shafts (Nyoil from Micro-Tools). Now the long times are OK, but I think that the short times 1/50 - 1/250 are (still) a little too slow. Could the main spring be "tired" or what?

Second problem is that I managed to mess up the vertical alignment of the RF a bit. Not too bad, but it would be nice to have a perfect RF. There are two gears coupled to the lenses in the RF, a bigger and a smaller one. How do I adjust the vertical alignement?

Third issue is the selenium cell, which is much too unsensitive. But I guess it really isn't much use trying to replace it.

 

[ZeissFan]

If the short times seem a bit slow, there not much you can do. Springs by themselves don't lose tension unless there is some other factor: rust, being bent ... well, those two things mostly.

How off are they? I wouldn't worry about it too much. The best test is to shoot a roll of slide film and meter the scenes with an incident meter. That will tell you if the shutter speeds are off by a noticeable amount.

Regarding, the meter. If it's extremely sluggish, your only option is to replace the cell. You might want to try cleaning the contacts and see if that improves its response.

The vertical alignment of the rangefinder can only be adjusted by removing the lens faceplate and rotating one of the prisms either to the left or right. That means loosening the screws on the small brass plate.

Then you should recollimate the lens to infinity.

None of these are terribly difficult, although in general they are time-consuming and require a great deal of patience, especially calibrating the rangefinder.

 

[wyk_penguin]

I have heard the double prism finders are extremely difficult to calibrate. I was wondering it there is any general method to getting it right except for trial and error.

 

[Mike Kovacs]

Point your camera at a horizonal straight line - I use a rooftop close to my home. When you change the focus, is the image moving exactly horizontal or does it move at an angle, i.e. the vertical alignment is good at only one distance?

If it does this, then its probably the rangefinder prisms that are out of whack. Just rotate one of them tooth by tooth and keep at it until your vertical is correct and running straight along a horizontal line.

If there is still residual vertical misalignment after that, then it really cannot be corrected. I suspect this happens when the lens is slightly out of parallel with the film plane.