Leica Model III adjust rangefinder vertical alignment

[wlaidlaw]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

After coming back from Cameraworks and looking beautiful after its total rebuild, repaint and re-cover, the RF on my Model III has its vertical RF alignment off just a tiny fraction. In that, even when at their best, with a new mirror, the RF second image on these pre-war cameras is a bit weak and, if the vertical alignment is even a fraction off, you don't get a good "pop" or contrast increase, when the images align. I know how to adjust the vertical alignment on post-war LTM's and M's but not on these pre-war cameras (1934 in my case). Can anyone help me on this?

 

I had a look on the Internet and found nothing. If the camera does not have to be taken apart to do this I will do it, otherwise it can go back to Alan Starkie, when I send him the Graflex Combat Graphic KE-4 giant rangefinder 70mm film camera (Gulliver's Contax) for repair. 

 

I have bought this KE-4 recently and its "schpringenwerk" clockwork film advance is jammed, probably due too much "gefingerpoking" by the previous owner  . I have actually bought the whole KS-6 Graphic kit with all three lenses, flash and various other bits and pieces in their original Halliburton aluminium Case. For those who don't know what the KE-4 looks like, a pic below. 

 

Wilson

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[TomB_tx]

According to Tomosy, the II and III both have a rotating optical wedge behind the bezel of the RF window. Remove the bezel and rotate the wedge. This may change the horizontal a bit.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[willeica]

There is some advice here under rangefinder calibration:

 

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/LeicaIII.html

 

Tomosy is usually regarded as the standard text, but there is also there is a Kindle version of this book, which I have not seen.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Leica-Repair-Manual-Mechanic-Cameras-ebook/dp/B00P05ZBZ4/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XXZS08AG0ZP97V7GG648

 

 

William

[wlaidlaw]

Tom and William, 

 

Many thanks for the advice and links. The book was actually available for free on my Kindle Unlimited subscription, so I have downloaded that. After reading, it would appear that adjusting the vertical alignment also throws out the infinity. I think therefore, I will send it back to Alan at Cameraworks, since he has just rebuilt the RF. If I have a go at it and make it worse, it would be slightly embarrassing to then have to return it to him. 

 

Wilson

[jerzy]

Wilson,

If you know how to adjust horizontal then the vertical adjustment is just one step more. Choose an object at infinity, with horizontal lines (roof, chimney or so) and turning the window as indicated above bring the horizontal lines together. Horizontal adjustment will go off, but this is what you know how to do. Just take care not to use too much force on the screw for horizontal adjustment. This screw is secured with another screw accessible after taking top cover off and on some cameras it is so tight that you cannot turn the screw for horizontal adjustment.

[jerzy]

Corrections:

An object at infinity is an obvious nonsense in this context, choose an object at more than 100m.

Vertical adjustment may be done on objects which are closer, but as you will need to do horizontal afterwards it is convenient to have just one object

[mikemgb]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I found when adjusting the RF on my iiia that the further away the object is the better, setting it using something 100m away will often result in it still being out at infinity. I use a tower visible from my kitchen window that is a little over 2 miles away.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wlaidlaw]

I usually wait until the summer at my french house and use either the planet Venus or Jupiter. OK not quite at infinity but maybe good enough  . In that I live about 1/2km outside a tiny village that has very little in the way of street lighting, I get virtually no light pollution. The mayor started to get the wiring laid for street lights in the small road that goes past the entrance to my house up to where he hoped that an executive holiday homes estate was going to be built. Not a single one of the 20 plots has been sold, so I am delighted that the street lighting has not been put in. 

 

I am not going to mess around with the RF. The amount the vertical adjustment is out is absolutely tiny and looking at it again this afternoon, I am not sure it is out. Unlike on an M, where the RF image moves horizontally in relation to the fixed image, the RF image on a III seems to move very slightly diagonally. As you focus it goes from above right, through the point of convergence to below left. As I said above, it would be very embarrassing to have to give it back to Alan and explain through my cack-handedness, I have undone some of his good work over the last few weeks. 

 

I think I will stick to adjusting RF's on post war Leica LTM's and M's, where I know what I am doing. 

 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

On the Combat Graphic above, you probably use a crowbar and a 10" adjustable wrench to correct the RF 

[mikemgb]

Wilson, that's interesting about the rangefinder on a III moving diagonally, I had wondered. I just finished running a film through a recently acquired 1935 III. The rangefinder is out both horizontally and vertically and the image does indeed seem to move diagonally. I'm thinking I may just adjust it horizontally first and see if that cures both.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wlaidlaw]

Wilson, that's interesting about the rangefinder on a III moving diagonally, I had wondered. I just finished running a film through a recently acquired 1935 III. The rangefinder is out both horizontally and vertically and the image does indeed seem to move diagonally. I'm thinking I may just adjust it horizontally first and see if that cures both.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I suspect you may need one of those tools that looks a bit like an old fashioned clothes peg, to remove the RF window. I keep meaning to buy a set of these from Hong Kong. Not having any of these was another reason for not even starting on re-adjusting my RF. 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[mikemgb]

I have seen those tools on eBay, as yet I haven't needed one, the windows on both my Barnacks unscrewed with firm finger pressure. I will certainly get one as soon as I need one though.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spydrxx]

I was too cheap to buy any of those tools so went into my workshop and bored appropriate sized holes in scraps of plastic I had lying about. They seemed to work pretty well.

[jerzy]

Plastic is better than brass or steel, it does not scratch paint nor chrome plating. When using clamps as on the picture I use thin rubber, remaining a from replaced shutter curtain and put over the window.

[Jon Pop]

This may help; it's for the iiif, however.

 

http://www.mediajoy.com/en/lrc/lbal/index.html

[wlaidlaw]

This may help; it's for the iiif, however.

 

http://www.mediajoy.com/en/lrc/lbal/index.html

 

Jon,

 

Thanks but the IIIF is quite easy, as one adjustment does not seem to alter the other very much, if at all, as long as you adjust the vertical with the infinity adjusted to be correct and set to infinity. On the earlier cameras you seem to have to go backwards and forwards between the two adjustments, to get them closer and closer until they are perfect, as adjusting one seems to alter the other. I now think I was misled by the diagonal movement on the pre-war Leicas, of the ghost image, against the real image in the RF and the vertical alignment on my III is actually near enough. It just takes a bit of getting used to, when I have been using M's in the recent past, with the far clearer and total horizontal ghost image movement On the model III the ghost image appears to go from above right to below left as you go through the focus point. This seems to have been changed, maybe at the IIIB stage, when the RF and VF windows were changed to be side by side, as neither my 1953 IIF nor my 1956 Reid and Sigrist (a IIIB copy) have diagonal ghost image movement. Theirs is horizontal. 

 

Wilson

[mikemgb]

I'm going to work on my III this coming weekend. I had bought the camera basically as a parts camera to supply some missing screws and a viewfinder window for my IIIa. A test roll run through the camera shows it to be in excellent mechanical condition, the only issues are a faded and peeling vulcanite which is an easy fix. Plus the badly aligned RF which is also an easy fix.

 

Of course, this still leaves the problem of a missing viewfinder window and missing screws on my IIIa!

[wlaidlaw]

Mike, 

 

If you would prefer to re-cover in embossed black leather rather than vulcanite, Alan Starkie has a source in the USA for cut covers for the Model III - see photo on previous page for my III covered in this material. Aki-Asahi doesn't appear to do these and I assume Morgan at Cameraleather is out of business, as he no longer answers emails and his website has lots of 404 holes in it now. Annoying as I have a credit with him, which I suppose I will have to write off. 

 

Wilson

[mikemgb]

Mike, 

 

If you would prefer to re-cover in embossed black leather rather than vulcanite, Alan Starkie has a source in the USA for cut covers for the Model III - see photo on previous page for my III covered in this material. Aki-Asahi doesn't appear to do these and I assume Morgan at Cameraleather is out of business, as he no longer answers emails and his website has lots of 404 holes in it now. Annoying as I have a credit with him, which I suppose I will have to write off. 

 

Wilson

 

Thank you, I'll try cleaning mine first, it that doesn't work I'll see what Alan has.

 

You wouldn't happen to know of any European suppliers that may have viewfinder windows and odd screws? Nobody that I can find in the US has any for the III / IIIa, just for the IIIc and up.

 

I'd be happy to find an ORAKO if all else fails, but they don't come up for sale very often either.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[TomB_tx]

I wonder if the diagonal movement of the RF patch is related to the orientation of the optical wedge used to get vertical alignment? If the wedge has much of an angle from the horizontal it might have that effect.