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FARUX Service


Susie

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Having had quite a bit of success with the panorama accessory on my Rolleiflex, I have recently bought a FARUX for my Leicas. Unfortunately there is a bit of a gap between the two sections allowing the camera to rock and not remain level.

 

Does anyone know how the two sections come apart? My thought is to seperate them, clean the bearing and overhaul it. On inspection I think the two parts are pressed together with a small grub screw put in from the top to locate them, but I thought I'd check before going ahead.

 

I hate to say it, but the Rollei accessory is far better engineered than the Leica one - its only drawback of course is that it only works for one focal length lens.

 

Susie

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Having had quite a bit of success with the panorama accessory on my Rolleiflex, I have recently bought a FARUX for my Leicas. Unfortunately there is a bit of a gap between the two sections allowing the camera to rock and not remain level.

 

M9 + 135 f/4 Elmar Visoflex 1 and Bellows

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The gap is between the knurlled ring and the plain section. (The FARUX is upsidedown here) It isn't bent, but is rocked to show the extent of the movement.

 

Does anyone know how the two sections come apart? My thought is to seperate them, clean the bearing and overhaul it. On inspection I think the two parts are pressed together with a small grub screw put in from the top to locate them, but I thought I'd check before going ahead.

 

I hate to say it, but the Rollei accessory is far better engineered than the Leica one - its only drawback of course is that it only works for one focal length lens.

 

Susie

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Hey, seems to me that some part is MISSING.... there must be a graduated ring in the middle... (several rings were made, for different focal lengths)

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Hi Susie, I see the gap you mean. There should be no gap between the knurled ring and the smooth base. The little hole in your picture is missing a little screw, doubtless the source of your problems. Have a look at my FARUX, for example. I don't know how to fix the problem, or take your FARUX apart, but as a last resort, I am happy to pass on mine, as it is 3/8s inch thread and I use another with a 1/4 inch thread. Please PM me in that case. Best wishes, Al

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Hi Al,

 

Thanks for the offer! If I get the thing apart I will either make a baseplate to support the camera ( like a FIAVI) or machine the 3/8" down to 1/4" whit.

 

Just to avoid any confusion, the FARUX is complete - no parts missing, the photo was taken after some disassembly. I removed the two small screws which you refer to just to check, but they only serve to locate the slip on lens detent rings and have nothing to do with the problem. Under the black top covering there are two small holes (different diameters), one of which has a grub screw in it. I did wonder if these are for a bar with two pins in, used to unscrew the two sections, the grub screw being to prevent it unscrewing once assembled.

 

By the way Al, do you find there is much overlap between exposures when making a panorama? The Rollei gives quite a bit which helps alignment.

 

Susie

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I see what you mean. My first thought was that a ham-fisted former user had removed the guide screws in an attempt to insert the rings.

 

You know far more than I about the interior than I do!

 

In my experience using the FARUX with an M9, you need quite a bit of overlap to get the panorama function in Photoshop to work. I use the half-notches for vertical format, even on horizontal shots.

 

Best wishes,

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Hi Guys,

 

Well I had a close look this morning, using a loupe, and decided that the top was in fact screwed on, using the grub screw to prevent it from coming undone.

 

Using an adjustable pin spanner and a homemade gapped spanner I succeeded in dismantling it:

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After cleaning the old grease off, I put it back together and measured the free-play using feeler gauges and decided that 0.004" needed to come off the inner brass sleeve of the base section. This was faced off using a small lathe and the FARUX reassembled. You can see the small hole that the grub screw locates into.

 

 

There is now no rocking movement but the top is free to revolve, clicking in place with the detent.

 

Susie

 

Photos as before: M9 + 135 f/4 Elmar, Viso 1 + Bellows

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Do other forum members think it would be a good idea for Leica to reintroduce the FARUX system (or something like it) for their digital cameras? The centre tripod socket in the M8 and 9 should make life easier for horizontal shots — but purists will aver that the centre of rotation should be the lens's nodal point and not the film plane.

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Do other forum members think it would be a good idea for Leica to reintroduce the FARUX system (or something like it) for their digital cameras? The centre tripod socket in the M8 and 9 should make life easier for horizontal shots — but purists will aver that the centre of rotation should be the lens's nodal point and not the film plane.

 

That's the point : and there are some specialized system, in the market, that do offer finely adjustable devices to be fit on tripods : a "new Farux" would be anyway an "approximate" solution... Leica imho is better doesn't offer such a solution

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I know that ideally the centre of rotation is the nodal point. This is a fact that Rollei points out with their accessory, but then of course it doesn't have interchangeable lenses. Unfortunately, if one focusses closer than infinity then the nodal point also moves when the lens is racked out!

 

In practice though I think that unless you are photographing in the very near range it doesn't make any appreciable difference. In fact looking at the software you suggested Luigi, the use of a FARUX isn't required anyway: the digital stitching makes it superfluous. The only real advantage of the accessory is that it enables the camera to swing round a vertical axis once set up on the tripod. With digital cameras (or scanned-in film as well to be honest) one can just make sure that the successive photos overlap somewhat.

 

I took a series of panorama shots a couple of years ago in South Africa, so I'll have ago with the Hugin and post if it works!

 

Susie

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