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Manmcg2012
Tinkerer
Username: Manmcg2012
Post Number: 27
Registered: 05-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 11:55 am: | 
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hi,, does anyone know how a rangefinder becomes broken,,there is no movement in the view window ,, can u live without the rangefinder and carry on using the camera or can u repair this ,,,,sean.... |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 304
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 09, 2013 - 08:52 pm: |
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First of all, yes you can easily live without the rangefinder. Many cameras similar to yours, including other Voigtlanders with the same lenses, had no rangefinder. You simply must guess the distance. The smaller the aperture, the less critical the guess. It's been done this way forever.
By the way, if you do abandon the rangefinder, you can put some opaque material over the second window, which will take the yellow center out of the viewfinder. I did this on a broken Vito CLR.
Unfortunately, the rangefinder in the Voigtlander, though wonderful when it worked, was assembled out of a couple of glass blocks glued together. With age and impact, they can separate, and when that happens it cannot be fixed.
You can, without much trouble, remove the top of the camera, and get a good look. If you're unusually lucky, it might be something else - perhaps a broken coupling or something gone stiff. It's pretty easy once you have it open to see how the lens couples to a little prism, which in turn reflects into the glass block. If the prism moves, the coupling is good, and you are probably looking at a broken finder.
The Vitomatic IIa is a nice camera with or without the rangefinder, and you are likely to enjoy the crisp results and the good color. |
Manmcg2012
Tinkerer
Username: Manmcg2012
Post Number: 39
Registered: 05-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - 07:19 pm: |
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why do u need to cover the second window for,,,is the yellow centre a distraction /im not used to viewfinder cameras,,when looking through the viewfinder and then turn the focus setting can you see the image lining up in to one so to speak |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 306
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 15, 2013 - 07:14 am: |
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Yes, the only reason for covering the second window is to get rid of the distraction and turn it into a plain viewfinder.
If the rangefinder were working properly the two images would be separate, the yellow fainter and superimposed on the viewfinder image, and they would come together at the point of focus. When it's not working, the yellow image will always be displaced - if it's broken or misadjusted, sometimes up/down as well as the proper sideways.
It's always possible to use the viewfinder and ignore the rangefinder image, but it's a little less distracting if you cover the rangefinder window, and it does not nag at you every time you use it, whispering "I'm broken!" |
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