| Author | Message | ||
     Monopix Tinkerer Username: Monopix Post Number: 106 Registered: 11-2008 Rating: N/A |
Yes, you do need a known good lens to start with and I didn't make that clear. I use my Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 which has never been messed around with so I'm assuming it's set correctly. It certainly appears to be when I use it on a camera and point it at a distant subject. But if you don't have a known good lens, just check one out by pointing it at the moon one night. Once you have one you would be happy to say is focussing at infinity correctly, then you can use it to set up others. (NOte, strictly speaking, when you check out the lens you should do so on the body you are going to make the collimator out of and do it by checking the image at the film plane, not by looking through the viewfinder). I think the (maybe) unique feature of my setup is I built the thing vertically so you can just stack everything up and be sure of it being aligned. If you try and build it horizontally, you have the problem of getting everything level and on the same axis. Also, it's an assembly of parts which I can put together when I need it and, other times, I can use the parts for other things. So I'm not tying up my 50mm. |