Medalist rangefinder dark

[Grim Tuesday]

I just picked up a Medalist I in beat up shape, but being the tank that it is most of it seems to work. But the rangefinder is completely dark. I can't see anything at all through it. Could there be anything anything simple that I'm missing or is a repair in my future?

 

[Dan Daniel]

Any rattle in the viewfinder area when you shake it a bit/ Or give it a good tilt, rotation.

Most likely the two main prisms which sit in he center and feed the left and right image to the erecting prism have come loose from their mount. They are cemented together and then cemented to a plate. I've seen them come undone from this plate as a unit, which will kill both images.

But it could be the erecting prism.

Could also be on the eyepiece itself. There is a small mask that slides up and down the opening below the viewfinder. there is a slit in this mask. If there is no slit, only mask, well, that's a problem of course. Or the slit could be out of alignemnt and need to be raised (most common) or lowered.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

when you shake it a bit/ Or give it a good tilt, rotation.

Most likely the two main prisms which sit in he center and feed the left and right image to the erecting prism have come loose from their mount. They are cemented together and then cemented to a plate. I've seen them come undone from this plate as a unit, which will kill both images.

Dan, thanks! I found the slit and the mask you were talking about. The slit is almost completely free right now. I pushed it around and I saw at least one rangefinder image! It looks almost like a dimmish top image, and a very dim bottom image. Shining a light into the rangefinder window, I see light out of the right window (looking at the camera from the front). And finally, the shake test does indeed reveal there is something moving somewhere in the camera when I shake it.

 

[Dan Daniel]

If you are indoors, it is going to be very dim in the best of cases with the rangefinder. Use outdoors sun for a better sense of what is wrong. Meaning looking out a window at sun.

If you have dim images, at least you have images meaning you have the basic light paths most likely? Almost everything happens with prisms so tarnished mirrors aren't an issue.

There are 11 adjustment points in the rangefinder. 9 optical elements, 16 surfaces in play. If you want to go inside, drop me a note and I can give some guidance.

On the medalist I, if you remove the top cover the focus scale will come along with it, just to warn you. And I wouldn't shake the camera much more! I should have said more of a roll and tilt to see if something rolled around. There are other parts in other places which could be rattling when shaken. The prism range from maybe 1/4" by 3/16" triangles to 3/16" by 1/8" triangles- small little things.

 

[Bud Hamblen]

The Medalist doesn't rely on silvered surfaces in the rangefinder and it should clean up nicely. You might want to send it to a good repair shop because the rest of the mechanics will need to be seen to.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Thanks all, I'll take a peek inside tomorrow and update. I've gotten much better at tinkering lately with the help of the lessons posted at learncamerarepair.com. I did my first compur last weekend, and I fancy this will be a fun project!

 

[guangong]

Yes! Just send it to a reputable camera mechanic. I can recommend Zacks, who made my Medalist like new. Medalist operation is a bit quirky, so a good idea to download manual from Butkus and read it. Otherwise, you may be sending camera out for a second time. One of my favorite cameras.
A hint From my own experience I feel that Medalist is easier to hold steady when in its fitted case.

 

[Alex Varas]

Follow Dan's guidance, he is the best.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Yes, lots of respect to Dan! I love that the Medalist was made for Marines to take apart, so it's more like a gun than a Leica. After consulting the military repair manual, I got inside the rangefinder mechanism and pretty clearly the issue was with the erecting prism. The screws were totally loose on both sides, so the image was being projected far too low, below even the finder. Also, plenty of fungus and gunkus to clean up to brighten the whole assembly. It's strange, almost every screw on this entire camera is loose. Is that common on Medalists from some strange Kodak magic?

 

[Alex Varas]

Dunno, I have seen only 3 Medalist I and II and they were pretty tight and very clean inside so I guess a marine was messing around with yours

 

[Dan Daniel]

Also, plenty of fungus and gunkus to clean up to brighten the whole assembly. It's strange, almost every screw on this entire camera is loose. Is that common on Medalists from some strange Kodak magic?

I sold an Autocord TLR to someone local. A few months later she called me up to say that every screw was loose. Weird. So I took it in and tightened everything up. When we met up for her to get it back, I asked if she rode a motorcycle or in helicopters. No, she used the camera at a local night club. At the front of the stage shooting bands. The night club has a sound system designed by Ray Dolby himself, some of the cleanest bass you will ever hear. So the bass speakers were simply vibrating the screws loose. I immediately took the camera back, stripped it down again, and added loctite to every screw.

A few months later I got another call from her...

Well, good luck with the rangefinder. Acetone helps dissolve some of the really hard spots, but don't rub the paint with it. And pretty well every piece except the center two triangle prism assembly is adjustable in at least two different dimensions. The back surface of the main triangle where it sits against the erecting prism is the usual problem spot to clean and leads to the main crisp dark spots. There are a few adjustments not discussed in the repair manuals. The erecting prism handles much of the up/down division and the tilt, so as the final move it is worth playing with a lot. Sometimes its mounting block also needs to be loosened and adjusted so that seating it home puts it in the right spot. Move slowly and methodically.

Oh, be careful of he center triangle prisms. I've had them pop off of the mounting plate. Also had the top one break away. Remounting is not fun. And check the rear viewfinder element, upper part that you look through. If things look fuzzy and basic surface cleaning doesn't solve it, check for separation of the element itself from the glass plate it is mounted to.

 

[moto-uno]

I'll bite , and what did she say on her second call ? Peter

 

[Dan Daniel]

I'll bite , and what did she say on her second call ? Peter

Let's just say that blue loctite does not hold up to 20hz sound waves from well-tuned sub-woofer stacks.