[LRFlex] Calibrating the SL viewscreen
- From: Doug Herr <telyt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2004 14:59:02 -0700
As many of you know, I've been tinkering with the inner workings of a few
Leicaflex SL bodies. One is my 'project' camera, a jammed black paint SL
with viewfinder and metering issues as well as corrosion in spots from its
former Miami enviornment.
To recap: I've unjammed the camera so the shutter now works properly, and by
using parts from a couple of Leicaflex cadavers I've replaced corroded parts
and replaced the non-standard viewscreen (looked like it's part for a
Spotmatic) with the proper SL viewscreen, and replaced the meter movement
and main circuit board.
My next task was adjusting the viewscreen, because when comparing this
camera to a known good body, it was obvious that something was wrong: the BP
SL's viewfinder was out of focus where the good body showed perfect focus.
The viewscreen of the SL has adjustment screws at three corners: one at the
UR corner (UL corner when viewed through the pentaprism), and two on either
side of the viewfinder eyepiece. These are visible only when the camera's
top plate has been removed, and the one at the UR corner is hard to find
under the meter's shutter speed control arm. At each of these corners is
actually a pair of screws: a larger one that locks the screen in place, and
a smaller set screw that does the actual adjustment.
To adjust the viewscreen, first loosen all three lock screws. You don't
want to remove them completely, particularly the UR one, but the shafts of
these screws are long enough that a few loosening turns won't cause any
problems. For a focussing refence use either a grond glass between the film
rails or a known good camera body. I used the latter, along with a lens
that has its onw tripod mount; in my case the 100mm APO-Macro-Elamrit-R with
STA-1 tripod ring. Locking the lens on a tripod, I used the good body to
focus on a detailed object in the UL corner of the viewscreen. Without
moving the lens or tripod I then switched to the BP SL and adjusted the
setscrew in the UR corner until the image in the UL corner (remember,
through the pentaprism) was in focus. Switching back to the good body, I
then focussed on an object in the LR corner of the viewscreen, then on the
BP SL I adjusted the LL setscrew to correct focus. After these two
setscrews have been adjusted focus should agree in the center of the
viewfinders. THen use the good body to focus on an object in the LL corner,
and used the BP SL's LR setscrew to correct the focus.
The screen has now been adjutsed. Tighten the larger screws at each of
these three corners and put the top plate back on.
NEXT: slow shutter speeds.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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