I have recently acquired a messy Fed Atlas that has its horizontal rangefinder misaligned. Does anybody have an idea how I could adjust it? Also, the inner part of the lens seems to have its back element on screw in and out barrel that seems need to be properly adjusted too. Is there any documentation about it?
I had realized that the previous owner had opened that lens, put the blades in a wrong way and aparently because they could not close upon packing things up he put the index of the collar that guides the aperture blades upside down else it could not be turned when mounting it on the camera.
What I did is: 1. removed the collar that holds the ring that drives the apperture blades (6 of them). To do this remove the screw next to the rod that adjust the rangefinder picture. 2. Remove the ring that drives the aperture blades. 3. Remove the piece of metal with the lens that holds the aperture blades in place (3 screws). 4. Unscrew the inner tube of the lens frontwards. 5. Clean the blades and put them carefully back (this is the trickiest part). 6. Screw back the inner optical tube. 7. Put back the part that hold the blades. 8. Put back the ring with the index that moves the aperture blades. 9. Put the collar in place. 10. Set the aperture setting on the camera at 2.8 11. rotate the inner part of the lens with the aperture wide open so that the aperture key matches the position of the one on the body of the camera.
And that's it. It took me 1 hour to place the blades properly