Ease of focusing Hasselblad vs. Rolleiflex

Sirius Glass said:

I am not kidding. I was in Samys last year when a Hasselblad owner had that complaint. The repairman said it was because the ground glass was not in alignment. It took him only a few minutes to fix the problem. Some of the split screen problems are from alignment issues; some are the screens themselves; some people are not happy with a particular split screen. The reasons vary.

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Then that repairman should step back from what he is doing, take some time out thinking about whether he is in the right job.
If he even touched the screen, he messed up a perfectly good camera.

How, do you suppose, did he 'fix the problem' of there not being straight lines in the subject to focus on using a split image rangefinder, by adjusting the screen?


I heard some crazy things, but this...
Would you also suggest to have the grey winter skies in landscape photos fixed by letting a repairman adjust the film position?

Sirius Glass said:

Some of the split screen problems are from alignment issues; some are the screens themselves; some people are not happy with a particular split screen. The reasons vary.

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I don't expect it to be an alignment problem, since I do seem to eventually end up finding focus - especially if there are some nice straight lines to help. However, I suppose a slight misalignment could exacerbate the problem and it's probably time for a CLA of some sort anyway.

Since I do wear glasses, a prescription viewfinder (as suggested) might be something to try.

A screen without the split image feels like a good first thing to try. I have noticed I spend a lot of time moving the split image "out of the way" while trying to focus. Does anyone know if the 42204 model number is what I'm looking for?

Thanks again.

Of course I could always pick up an entire second kit. That usually fixes *something*!

I have both the 500cm and a rolleicord III, the hasselblad has the older dimmer screen in it but it is very bright compared to the rolleicord. I find the rolleicord is a lot easer to focus because of the knob instead of the ring and it pops lots better.

I have a split-rangefinder screen but it also has a microprism collar around the spit.
Another issue with a focussing aid is that focussing anything not in the center of the frame can be rough and we all know what happens with focus recompose and wide apertures.

My standard advice is to shoot with your camera and get to know it. In other words practice , no way around it. It took me a bit of usage before I got comfortable but it is doable.