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Dann
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 10:27 am: | 
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In the process of cleaning a Baldinette lens, I unscrewed and removed the inside element. I was able to thoroughly clean both inside and middle elements on both sides of the aperture blades, this was not a problem. Upon reassembly, I placed a simulated "ground glass" at the focal plane and adjusted the "threaded" inside element until I had "focus" at 4', 7' , 15' and infinity. I used a lupe to judge the focus. Is there a "proper" way to reset the lens on a Baldinette. And secondly , I have noticed the left 1/4 of most photographs are blurry (out of focus). What is that? I've see that addressed elsewhere, but I never saw a resolution to the problem. Thank you, one and all. |
Scott
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 11:33 pm: |
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Hi,
From what I've seen, Baldinettes have three-element lenses, which are focused by twisting the outer-most front element. AFAIK, the only focus adjustment to be made is to see that the focus ring with the distance markings is clamped onto the front element at the right position. The other two lenses (one in front of the shutter and the other behind the shutter) are simply screwed in snugly to the bottom of their threads. Be sure not to put the middle element in upside-down. If you do, then you will never get a sharp image at any setting.
Here's how I do it: While checking the image at the focal plane, I aim at an object a known distance away (usually a lamp in my room) and then adjust the front lens to get a sharp image. Then I tighten the set-screws in the focus ring at that distance without moving the lens. |
Scott
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 11:42 pm: |
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The left side of photos is out of focus? The Baldinette is a folding camera, so I would have a close look at the struts. Is it folding out all the way to the "locked" position? At that position, the lens should be quite stationary and not be swiveling. Is there play on the shutter's swiveling axis at the open position? Is the shutter retaining ring tight on the inside? Is the pressure plate keeping the film flat on the "track"? Are you sure it's not simply a light leak? |
Dann
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:16 am: |
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Thanks Scott, I appreciate this info. I only removed the one inside element. I never considered recalibrating with the focus ring, thinking it was still set to factory. My first visual focus measurement, after cleaning and reinstalling the inside element (threads bottomed out), it was over 2 ft. off.
I will double check the items you mentioned for the 1/4 focus issue. Thanks again. |
Scott
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 03:44 pm: |
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Just remove the focus ring completely while you are calibrating it. I then scratch a notch in the edge of the lens casing as a reference before replacing the focus ring.
Also, I've tried sighting on a faraway object to try and get a correct infinity setting, but then I find that there's a significant error when focusing on closer objects --say withing 7 feet or so. And it's in photos where the subject is close to me that focus errors seem most noticable. So now I just forget about infinity and use a closer object to calibrate the focus ring.
I get some very nice, sharp photos with my Baldinette. Let us know your results! |
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