Gl690 No sharp images.

[Antaras]

Well, now that I've scratched almost all the hair off my head I'm just going to give up on this one. The OP says it's the lens and I guess that since I can't examine the lens in question I'll just take his word for it. Still puzzled by the, "sharp at close-up and infinity, but not in the middle range" statement??????

OK big update on this one:

It wasnt the lens.

Dont lauch.. i tryed to ajust the rangefinder screw and it didnt go so ended up removing the whole screw.
Then i came to the conclusion that i almost destroyed my camera.

I removed some obstacles that stoped the mirror from moving.
Then when the mirror moved from 0-100% i removed the side prism mirror.
I glued the mirror on a different angle so the rangefinder patch was almost near as good as possible.
I found out the framelines now also changed.. they first didnt.
I guess the previous setup also stoped the lens from focusing (Because of the screw).

I made some test shots on tri-x400 see result from flatbad scan canon mark ii 9000f.
f3.5 125 shutter on tripod now sharp .. dont watch the mess in my livingroom.

Thanks for feedback all!

 

[Sirius Glass]

OK big update on this one:

It wasnt the lens.

Dont lauch.. i tryed to ajust the rangefinder screw and it didnt go so ended up removing the whole screw.
Then i came to the conclusion that i almost destroyed my camera.

I removed some obstacles that stoped the mirror from moving.
Then when the mirror moved from 0-100% i removed the side prism mirror.
I glued the mirror on a different angle so the rangefinder patch was almost near as good as possible.
I found out the framelines now also changed.. they first didnt.
I guess the previous setup also stoped the lens from focusing (Because of the screw).

I made some test shots on tri-x400 see result from flatbad scan canon mark ii 9000f.
f3.5 125 shutter on tripod now sharp .. dont watch the mess in my livingroom.

Thanks for feedback all!

In the end you have made wonderful progress.

 

[GregY]

OK big update on this one:

It wasnt the lens.

Dont lauch.. i tryed to ajust the rangefinder screw and it didnt go so ended up removing the whole screw.
Then i came to the conclusion that i almost destroyed my camera.

I removed some obstacles that stoped the mirror from moving.
Then when the mirror moved from 0-100% i removed the side prism mirror.
I glued the mirror on a different angle so the rangefinder patch was almost near as good as possible.
I found out the framelines now also changed.. they first didnt.
I guess the previous setup also stoped the lens from focusing (Because of the screw).

I made some test shots on tri-x400 see result from flatbad scan canon mark ii 9000f.
f3.5 125 shutter on tripod now sharp .. dont watch the mess in my livingroom.

Thanks for feedback all!

That's more like it!

 

[John Wiegerink]

Good job! Your like me, I never quit until I either fix what is wrong or fix it real good and beyond repair. It looks like you can run some film through it now and if it the photos are not sharp it's probably not the fault of the camera. Have fun!

 

[koraks]

I glued the mirror on a different angle

Alarm bells are ringing at this stage.
Reminds me how I once 'fixed' a Mamiya 645 by shimming the ground glass at an angle. This only served (as I realized much later) to compensate for the mirror stop that had gone awry.

There should be no need in the lifetime of your type of camera to re-glue a rangefinder mirror at a different angle! This suggests something else is/was wrong to begin with.
Anyway, I'm glad it seems OK for now. Fingers crossed!

 

[Antaras]

Alarm bells are ringing at this stage.
Reminds me how I once 'fixed' a Mamiya 645 by shimming the ground glass at an angle. This only served (as I realized much later) to compensate for the mirror stop that had gone awry.

There should be no need in the lifetime of your type of camera to re-glue a rangefinder mirror at a different angle! This suggests something else is/was wrong to begin with.
Anyway, I'm glad it seems OK for now. Fingers crossed!

DSLR scan
I got the information also from this site:

Fuji GL690 rangefinder repair and 150mm frameline delete

Just in case anyone runs into the same problem. GL690 had no second image at all. Removing the top is super easy, just unscrew the chrome ring around the top shutter release and then the four black screws distributed on each side of the top cover. Once that is off there are two small screws to...

rangefinderforum.com

 

[koraks]

I got the information also from this site:

Yes, that person was fixing a mirror that had become loose and wasn't in place anymore. That's a very different situation from yours.

 

[Antaras]

Yes, that person was fixing a mirror that had become loose and wasn't in place anymore. That's a very different situation from yours.

"After you attach the mirror you have a minute or two where you can slide the mirror around, try and get it in best position so that at infinity"

 

[koraks]

I'm aware of that. The point is: your mirror was still attached as far as I can tell. A glued mirror will not start to wander about, so something else was/is wrong that you now fixed/bodged by re-aligning the mirror. Do you understand what I'm saying?

 

[Antaras]

I'm aware of that. The point is: your mirror was still attached as far as I can tell. A glued mirror will not start to wander about, so something else was/is wrong that you now fixed/bodged by re-aligning the mirror. Do you understand what I'm saying?

In the end i think the reason was that the screw was to far in, that way the moving mirror was stuck.. but then again with the mirror moving fully i wasnt able to get focus in the rangefinder patch. so i moved the prism mirror a bit.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Koraks is right about the glued mirror. If it is still solidly glued to its bedding surface and it won't focus at infinity or wherever , that means something in the focusing mechanism leakage is misadjusted or sticking. If it's a sticky pivot post or a slightly stuck spring it could very well free itself back up with use. If it does free itself up you'll know it since the newly glued in mirror will suddenly be out of whack again and the fix will be to glue it back in the original position. Time will tell I guess, but good luck anyway and I hope it stays fixed.

 

[Antaras]

I'm aware of that. The point is: your mirror was still attached as far as I can tell. A glued mirror will not start to wander about, so something else was/is wrong that you now fixed/bodged by re-aligning the mirror. Do you understand what I'm saying?

In the end i think the reason was that the screw was to far in, that way the moving mirror was stuck.. but then again with the mirror moving fully i wasnt able to get focus in the rangefinder patch. so i

Koraks is right about the glued mirror. If it is still solidly glued to its bedding surface and it won't focus at infinity or wherever , that means something in the focusing mechanism leakage is misadjusted or sticking. If it's a sticky pivot post or a slightly stuck spring it could very well free itself back up with use. If it does free itself up you'll know it since the newly glued in mirror will suddenly be out of whack again and the fix will be to glue it back in the original position. Time will tell I guess, but good luck anyway and I hope it stays fixed.

Thanks!

 

[koraks]

In the end i think the reason was that the screw was to far in, that way the moving mirror was stuck.. but then again with the mirror moving fully i wasnt able to get focus in the rangefinder patch. so i moved the prism mirror a bit.

I understand that. Anyway, good luck with the camera, I hope it'll continue to work.