New with a RF, help needed..

[anerjee]

I recently bought a Konica Auto S2, and have run 2 rolls of film through it. I am quite unhappy with my performance so far. I cannot seem to be able to focus on the right place -- all my pics come out with the focus being right behind where I had intended it to be.

Anyone here can help me with ideas as to what I can do to -

1) Figure out if this is a machine problem or an operator problem?

2) If it is a machine problem, who can fix the Konica here in Singapore?

3) Most likely this is an operator problem. In that case, any advise other than keep trying?

I love working with the rangefinder. Hope I can sort this out soon, thanks!

Also -- I'd love to meet some other people shooting film/RF and learn. Any meet-up etc planned recently?

Ani

 

[raytoei]

hi,

if you are sure that the incident images coincide perfectly, then the problem isn't you but the camera.

Let me elaborate, focusing requires discipline, i used to do RF like a zoom, left to right and right to left and so on until i became focused. But these days, I always start from right (near to far) to left and with practice, I manage to get more of my images focused properly in the least amount of time.

BUT....

I found out that Rangefinders do become misaligned. Eg. Usually, there are 2 distances to check for alignment, 1m and Infinity. My russian lens were notorious for not being focused on the 1m. Eg. 1m could be 110cm. This is known as a backfocus problem, ie. the eyes is blur but the ears are sharp.

The problem is either the lens or the RF window. For Leicas, Russian lens tend to have a back focus problem on the Leicas screwmount. For your Auto S2, I think the problem is the RF window.

What you can do is to stick a piece of paper on a wall with a drawn on X. Measure 1m, 2m on the floor and position your camera on a tripod (or support) and focus. If it is focused at 1m (from the floor mesurement), your lens should indicate 1m on the camera. If not then it is not aligned.

You can bring it in to the camera shops around peninsula, RF alignment is a common job. It will costs about 50 sgd I think.

Or, you could do this: when you think you have focused on a subject, move both hands carrying the camera 1 inch back and snap the picture. (this is not ideal but it works).

cheers!

raytoei

 

[anerjee]

I did some testing with an X on the wall, and it seems that the distance scale on the rangefinder is off by a bit, e.g. it shows closer to 1.2 when the actual distance is 1m.

Any suggestions where I can take this -- any particular shop referral would be good.

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[raytoei]

Many of the fellow CSers have very recommendations. I personally go to Andrew of P&G at Peninsula.

thanks