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Roy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 01:28 am: | 
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Recently, while scrounging the flea markets and secondhand stores for cameras, I've come across two rangefinders in which the rangefinder no longer responds when trying to focus the lens.
One camera was an unknown meterless Yashica (the nameplate had come off) and the other a Taron VIC.
At any rate, is there a common cause for this type of coupling failure? Is it a viable DIY repair? |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 03:39 am: |
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On many rangefinder cameras the rangefinder levers are actuated directly by the rear end of the lens barrel. This mechanism is quite straigtforward. But there are several bearings for the rangefinder levers (usually underneath the rangefinder assembly) which may corrode or gum up.
Usually the rangefinder assembly is not hard to remove and to check underneath. Remove the top cover and the dust cover of the rangefinder assembly, and you will see three or four screws close to the corners. Remove them and lift the whole assembly.
On some rangefinder cameras there is a coupling rod between the focussing front lens element and the rangefinder mechanism, this may gum up, too.
This all refers to cases where the rangefinder spot is still visible. If you do not see it but framelines are still visible (if the camera is supposed to have such), probably the rangefinder mirror has fallen off and must be reglued. |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 07:34 am: |
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On some of my 35mm Olympus cameras the lens cam follower is a push rod going into the camera body. Sometimes this rod is a little sticky in its bushings and neds to be freed up. Hope this helps. |
M Currie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 08, 2005 - 07:37 am: |
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I should add that rangefinder failure on old Voigtlanders seems to be common if they have been dropped. I don't know whether other cameras resemble these internally, but I have a couple of Voigtlanders of the 50's or 60's in which several elements of viewfinder and rangefinder are glued together. If the prism comes off the side of the viewfinder block, the rangefinder won't respond any more, or will be very far out of alignment. No cure for this unless you know how to reglue it. |
Stuart Willis
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 11:25 pm: |
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Roy ...
You say the rangefnder no longer responds - but that is not quite enough information to elicit an objective answer. It is possible that you are saying that you are not seeing any superimposition of the viewed image because there is in fact no shaded target area (usually grey or pale orange or pale yellow).
If you are not seeing such target shaded area then someone has very likely been inside the camera and attempted to clean the viewfinder.
The diagonal glass in the viewfinder is the beam-splitter and it is semi-silvered soft coated on one side. That soft coated surface cannot be cleaned. Any attempt will effectively wipe off the coating and therefter - no rangefinder image.
Hope this helps a bit.
Stuart Willis |
