ZI rangefinder adjustment

H

horosu

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Hello and a Happy New Year to everybody!!

One question: does anyone know how to adjust the rangefinder of the ZI? Is it possible to do it yourself? I have not found any instructions so far and I would be very curious to know...


Best Wishes for 2007, Horea
 
Or at least, does anyone know how it should be done? I mean, there aren't that many Zeiss repair centers worldwide for the ZI, so if you have a problem with a camera you either have it repaired by the dealer who sold it to you (if you have a warranty), or else you ship it to Zeiss...
 
my rangefinder was out of wack right out of the box, I looked around but no one seems to know how its done, I have a dirty feeling its under the top plate, which in that case I wouldnt want to touch it.
 
I see that there is a plastic cap on the left lateral side of the ZI. Does this hide a screw?

It would seem that the 2 screws on the back and (maybe) this third is all that is needed to remove the top cover...
 
That's the PC connector for external flash.

I can tell you that the RF adjustment isn't under the shoe like it is on the RD1. I looked and it isn't there.

John
 
Infinity adjustment should be similar to the Leica M, through the lens mount, using the large screw there, no?
 
Horosu is on to something.

Taking off the lense I see a very small screw which I suspect is a 'set screw' that is supposed to keep (any) large screw 'set'. There is a hole, but I can't see the head of any large screw.

Could a Leica service shop fix a ZI? Is it possible to do it yourself? What is the procedure?
 
Well,

I am very much looking forward to buy a ZI, however I am concerced by the lack of ZI repair centers. If I understand correctly, if you have a problem with the camera out of the warranty perioad you should send it to Zeiss for a repair (in Germany).

As rangefinder misaligments can be the pretty frequent, this bothers me a bit.....
 
No, I have not, however I have checked the threads involving ZI repair here and on p.net and no-one recommended the well-known Leica repair people.

I sent an email to Tony Rose the other day. I told him that I intend to buy a ZI pretty soon and asked if there were any problems with the rangefinder calibration out-of-the-box. He very courteously replied that indeed, the infinity adjustment of the majority of the ZI's shipping to him was off, and that as a consequence, he checks and does the alignment prior to shipping.

That was very good news indeed and speaks a lot about his competence, however, as this might happen in the long run, I would feel more secure knowing that this is something that is well documented and doable.
 
Greetings! This is my first posting in this forum and I like to make a comment to what I think is a serious matter, namely the mechanical stability and reliability of the RF of this very reputable marque's camera.

The legendary Zeiss Contax used to have a very stable RF design, albeit not as convenient to the user as the Leica M3 but certainly superior to the very simple RF used in the Leica screw mount cameras. I am now concerned that the current incarnation of ZI RF's are just in line with the sloppy job I have seen in the past few years coming from Japan with very fancy German names.

There is absolutely no reason for these cameras to arrive at the dealer's shop with their infinity adjustment off and I argue that it is not the dealer's job to atempt to redress the problem, no matter how simple the adjustment may be. The factory and the designers may have a problem, either it is in production, or in QC inspecting, or there is a serious design flaw that needs to be addressed. The current Leica M RF can take quite a lot of abuse before it goes out of alignment, it is very solid and I see no reason for the ZI RF not to be equal if not better, since it is of very recent design , than the old and legendary Leica.

I have and still am repairing Leicas and the like in the United States.
 
horosu said:
Well,

I am very much looking forward to buy a ZI, however I am concerced by the lack of ZI repair centers. If I understand correctly, if you have a problem with the camera out of the warranty perioad you should send it to Zeiss for a repair (in Germany).

As rangefinder misaligments can be the pretty frequent, this bothers me a bit.....
Click to expand...

Mine is still within the warranty period. It is slightly off at infinity. I can see this only in the vewfinder. Having checked several hundred frames I can't see that it takes any off focus pictures at shorter distances. Actually, my ZI together with my ZL lenses is among the sharpest shooting 135-equipment I have. Nor can I see any other bad effect. Like pictures that are off focus at infinity. This could be that I have used apartures that would include sharpness at infinity regardless.

I have written to Zeiss about it. They have asked me to send it (together with a 50 mm 2,0 that has a loose barrel) to them. That's fine, but apart from the freight cost, which is small, I risk having to pay 25% sales tax when having them sent back to me, if I don't do this right custom wise. A hassle, in other words.

I have just bought a Leica Noctilux 50 mm 1,0 that is very demanding on a correctly adjusted viewfinder since the DOF is only a few millimetres at short distances. When I have developed the first films taken with this lense I guess I will see if I really need an adjustment or not.

Off focus viewfinder should not be new to those acustomed to Leica. Following the Leica forum here I get this impression that 'half the Leica cameras' are in for an adjustment - or other repear, at any one time. Mechanical viewfinders are a liability. Why Leica, the leader within viewfinder part of the camera market, hasn't come up with a electronic solid state solution is beond me.

Buying a viewfinder camera you have to live with a camera that needs adjustment every now and then.
 
kinoglass said:
Greetings! This is my first posting in this forum and I like to make a comment to what I think is a serious matter, namely the mechanical stability and reliability of the RF of this very reputable marque's camera.

The legendary Zeiss Contax used to have a very stable RF design, albeit not as convenient to the user as the Leica M3 but certainly superior to the very simple RF used in the Leica screw mount cameras. I am now concerned that the current incarnation of ZI RF's are just in line with the sloppy job I have seen in the past few years coming from Japan with very fancy German names.

There is absolutely no reason for these cameras to arrive at the dealer's shop with their infinity adjustment off and I argue that it is not the dealer's job to atempt to redress the problem, no matter how simple the adjustment may be. The factory and the designers may have a problem, either it is in production, or in QC inspecting, or there is a serious design flaw that needs to be addressed. The current Leica M RF can take quite a lot of abuse before it goes out of alignment, it is very solid and I see no reason for the ZI RF not to be equal if not better, since it is of very recent design , than the old and legendary Leica.

I have and still am repairing Leicas and the like in the United States.
Click to expand...

have you worked on any of the new zeiss ikon cameras?
what do you see inside them?
 
back alley said:
have you worked on any of the new zeiss ikon cameras?
what do you see inside them?
Click to expand...

No, unfortunately I haven't had a chance yet. One of my clients is becoming a ZI dealer soon and I am sure the oportunity will arise. The description of the RF in one of the Zeiss brochures is quite promissing if it means anything of course. There is a picture of the whole RF looking very much like a Leica M type, but the picture is too small to see any serious detail. However it looks like one single cast armature self contains the whole optical system, unlike the Bessas and Hexars.

In general and if well executed, RFs are by far the most accurate way of focusing a camera lens. Far better than the most advanced reflex camera ground glass.
 
Please don't misunderstand me: I do not wish to blame someone (Zeiss or Cosina) for sloppy QC control.

All I am asking is to know that it can be calibrated in a reasonably simple manner. The calibration of the Leica M camera is pretty straighforward (if you happen to have that "special tool" for the newer models) and well known. It would be very comforting for me to know that the ZI's calibration is well documented.

As Olson said, to send the camera to Germany every time a problem arises, can be really frustrating...
 
horosu said:
Please don't misunderstand me: I do not wish to blame someone (Zeiss or Cosina) for sloppy QC control.

All I am asking is to know that it can be calibrated in a reasonably simple manner. The calibration of the Leica M camera is pretty straighforward (if you happen to have that "special tool" for the newer models) and well known. It would be very comforting for me to know that the ZI's calibration is well documented.

As Olson said, to send the camera to Germany every time a problem arises, can be really frustrating...
Click to expand...

It is not a question of blaming. It is a question of reliability. The fact RFs are adjustable does not mean that one would have to do it all the time. The Leica vertical adjustment you're referring to is not designed to be adjusted many times and it is covered with some hard varnish to prevent it from sliding out place. Pevious models had an excentric not requiring any especial tool but needing the locking varnish as well.

I mean, there is not way around a solid and reliable design.
 
seems kind of funny how we put up with how easy it is to knock rangefidners out of alignment. My old canon ae1 that ive used to hell and back, not a problem.
 
I would be very grateful if you could do that, backalley.

I am very much tempted to buy this ZI, however I won't do so until I know that the rangefinder can be repaired by the regular repairpeople.

OTOH, I won't invest in a camera who can get out of alignment and whose repair is not yet documented...
 
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