Argus C3 Matchmatic focusing issue

[Eric the Red]

Or maybe it's an expired film issue. I dunno.

Good morning everyone! I trust your weekend is going well?
I am having difficulty in getting the lens to focus correctly. Our local to me camera shop is currently out of film, so I have been using Fujifilm Super HG2 which expired in 1998 (I got a heck of a deal from an antique shop when I offered to buy all ten 4-packs for a lower price. Seems they had been there a while.). I exposed these rolls as iso 25, and the light seems to be good when I get my prints, but there are many which seem to be out of focus.
I should add, that I overhauled the camera, and reset the rangefinder so when my measured distance was in focus with the rangefinder, the lense was indicitave of the distance as well. All scales agreeing with each other, I would have thought things would have been good. I have run two rolls through the camera, and all pictures have been of random landscape, or buildings, so mostly focused at infinity. I should really run a new roll through it, as I really don't know about the expired film. But I have always been under the impression that expired film would have marks or color shifts, but not focusing issues. This is the first time I have used expired film, so I don't really have any experience to draw from.
Any suggestions or ideas would be gratefully pondered over.
Thank you!
Eric

 

[BrianShaw]

If you're not sure, it's always a good bet to give as much information as possible. Por instance, posting examples of the negative would be useful.

Also, some detailed information on how the pictures were taken. For example: handheld? What shutter speed/aperture?

 

[gone]

Sounds like you have the focus off, maybe by 1 tooth? I usually take a piece of ground glass (or stretch some Scotch Magic Tape) across the film gate of the camera, and confirm that things are accurate. It helps to have a loupe or a magnifying glass to see the image well on the back of the ground glass. You'll need to put the camera on a tripod or set it on something steady.

 

[Bill Burk]

@momus is right. You might take a phone photo of the camera (make the shot showing the lens and threads at infinity, etc.. Those who have a C3 can compare to theirs and can tell if your lens is off a thread.

 

[Eric the Red]

Thank you gentlemen for endeavoring to help me. Much appreciated.

Brian, the matchmatic uses exposure values, so I do not recall what ISO or f-stop I would have used even had I remembered to convert from E.V.'s to standard and write it down. I will remember that for future camera rebuilds. Anyhoo, here are a few pics for you. These are just randoms. The buildings were all handheld, the scenery shots were all on a tripod.

Momus and Bill, Hopefully these two shots are what you were referencing, and will help in the solution. I kind of like this camera. Although it has been mildly challenging getting used to exposure values, once I figured it out, it is fairly quick to set up to shoot.
Thank you for your time
Eric

 

[DWThomas]

I have an earlier version of the C-3, but I suspect some of the internals are similar if not totally identical. One hazard is the focusing helical is actually multiple threads (I'm thinking 6) so if the lens barrel is disassembled far enough, it's possible to start the focus assembly on a number of wrong paths. That is where the idea of using a ground glass or Scotch tape becomes useful. I have also produced a ground glass sufficient for a quick check by wet sanding a piece of acrylic glazing with something like #220 wet-or-dry paper. I noticed in the 2nd(?) picture, some blades of grass in the lower left foreground appear pretty sharp, so the good news is the blurriness is likely mechanical positioning ("calibration") as opposed to oil on the glass or hunks of 'stuff' in the optical path.

 

[henryvk]

You can check infinity focus with an SLR like this: http://elekm.net/zeiss-ikon/repair/collimate/

It doesn't require a tele lens, that just makes it easier to see. I do this with a 50 mm lens on an SLR with a waist level finder and loupe. I also don't use ground glass but a long hair taped across the film gate with a flashlight pointed at an angle to illuminate it from behind (don't point the flashlight right down the lens).

However: I've been shooting very expired Fuji Velvia and Portra 400 (with a known good lens/camera) and both come out very soft. I think this is just exaggerated grain due to the film being severely degraded. It doesn't matter where the focus is, the images look blurry.

Maybe compare to other people shooting 20-year-old film stock. I think these here look pretty soft too: https://shootitwithfilm.com/greek-island-travel-series-on-expired-film-by-grant-buchanan/

 

[Eric the Red]

DWThomas, Thank you for that suggestion. Although I did not take the lens apart, it is possible that it was taken apart before I gained possession of it. I will look into it.
Henryvk, the collimate method you linked to sounds like something I may be able to do with my Pentax. What you described with your pictures, may indeed be what I am experiencing. I have been wanting to run a roll of new film in it to check, but as I stated, my local to me camera shop has been out of 35mm film for about 3 months now. So that method will have to wait a bit. Nice picture by the way, even with the blurriness. I still have my other format cameras, so I am not lacking in picture taking ability.
Thank you to all who responded. Your insight was and is greatly appreciated.
Have a good week.
Eric