Kodak Medalist rangefinder- quick overview
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Hi Dan, thanks for sharing. While you are on it, can you annotate where is the adjustment screw for vertical and horizontal alignment?
Vertical- move the left and right front tubes up and down. Move by prying- slide a screwdriver under the front and lift- or by hammering down. Both lightly and very small amounts, of course. Look at a triangle to get a match of the upper and lower image. After adjustment, be prepared for it to shift overnight and need to be adjusted before sealing up.
Horizontal- the Medalist does not have an infinity stop. The focus scale is arbitrary. The thing that really matters is the agreement between the film plane and the rangefinder. All the rest is fluff. On back of the lens tube, upper right, are a smaller silver headed screw and a larger black headed screw. The silver screw is a lock- undo about 1/2-3/4 turn. With ground glass in the film plane, open lens and focus on something at a medium distance. 10-15 feet. Now adjust the black screw, which moves the rangefinder cam, in and out to get the film plane focus and rangefinder focus to match. Turn lock screw back in. The basic idea is that with the rangefinder and lens in agreement at one point, the cam and helical motion agreement across the range will be maintained. In practice this does work out.
Short version of full rangefinder set up- Get lines straight, split top/bottom set (sorry, that's about four paragraphs). Lens at full extension, set focus scale with 3-1/2 foot line under red IR mark on scale. Have camera 10 feet (10.0 at aperture scale or so) and set cam follower (skinny black arm on right prism mount) so rangefinder alignment and 10 foot mark agree (Kodak manual says use 15 feet for this but I have a small shop and consider accurate close focus more important). Now do rangefinder/lens alignment procedure above.
Horizontal- the Medalist does not have an infinity stop. The focus scale is arbitrary. The thing that really matters is the agreement between the film plane and the rangefinder. All the rest is fluff. On back of the lens tube, upper right, are a smaller silver headed screw and a larger black headed screw. The silver screw is a lock- undo about 1/2-3/4 turn. With ground glass in the film plane, open lens and focus on something at a medium distance. 10-15 feet. Now adjust the black screw, which moves the rangefinder cam, in and out to get the film plane focus and rangefinder focus to match. Turn lock screw back in. The basic idea is that with the rangefinder and lens in agreement at one point, the cam and helical motion agreement across the range will be maintained. In practice this does work out.
Short version of full rangefinder set up- Get lines straight, split top/bottom set (sorry, that's about four paragraphs). Lens at full extension, set focus scale with 3-1/2 foot line under red IR mark on scale. Have camera 10 feet (10.0 at aperture scale or so) and set cam follower (skinny black arm on right prism mount) so rangefinder alignment and 10 foot mark agree (Kodak manual says use 15 feet for this but I have a small shop and consider accurate close focus more important). Now do rangefinder/lens alignment procedure above.
Thanks again @Dan Daniel , fully agree that "The thing that really matters is the agreement between the film plane and the rangefinder"
Thanks @Dan Daniel.
My Medalist II is an early model which doesn't have the adjusting screw on the cam follower. So there is no good way to set the distance scale correctly is that right? Since it indexes on the gear, the best I could do was to have infinity on the infrared circle. NBD.
I also found that tuning the RF when the lens was at infinity worked nicely; the minimum distance was then correct. When I adjusted the RF for a close distance first, it didn't line up well for distant subjects. Can't explain why, but I noticed that you need to turn the adjusting screw a lot more to move the RF image when the subject is close.
Do you have a special tool to adjust the RF lenses? One is slightly out of focus but I'm not sure if I should bother.
My Medalist II is an early model which doesn't have the adjusting screw on the cam follower. So there is no good way to set the distance scale correctly is that right? Since it indexes on the gear, the best I could do was to have infinity on the infrared circle. NBD.
I also found that tuning the RF when the lens was at infinity worked nicely; the minimum distance was then correct. When I adjusted the RF for a close distance first, it didn't line up well for distant subjects. Can't explain why, but I noticed that you need to turn the adjusting screw a lot more to move the RF image when the subject is close.
Do you have a special tool to adjust the RF lenses? One is slightly out of focus but I'm not sure if I should bother.
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Well, there is no > good < way to set the focus scale to hit both close and 15 feet. There is a very bad way to do it, involving twisting the end of the cam follower in and out to hit the points.
The lenses: You can use serrated needle nose pliers to loosen the rear retaining ring. And after removal of the lens tube, the middle ring can be loosened. Now you can move the lens tube back and forth. I've played with this and have had no real results of changing the focus of either rangefinder image. I may be missing something or may not be noticing improvements or changes. I have seen some separation in these lenses- newton rings- visible from the front. Maybe some lenses are simply never going to focus? Now there are ways to move the two 90 degree prisms in their mount and this can affect imaging for the rangefinder. But this is pushing my tolerance for random experimenting without any real understanding of optics and this particular setup. I assume that Kodak had some nice jigs and bench assemblies for making all 19 or whatever adjustments point play well with each other.
If you do find a way to make focus sharper, please let me know.
I may have gone through this earlier in this thread, or maybe I've changed my thinking since this thread, but the basic steps...
I assume that Kodak set up close focus to the camera standard- 3-1/2 tick mark at the infrared dot. So this becomes my reference point for installing the focus scale- rack lens out to stop, install scale.
And yes, my standard is to then set the scale to 10 feet (15 feet per Kodak manual). Using either adjustment screw, or bending the cam follower.
Now set focus on film plane and rangefinder to match using ground glass on film plane and the internal adjustment screw at upper right of lens tube back plate.
This gets me pretty close to infinity focus on rangefinder (distance electric tower for me) matching infinity on focus scale.
If using infinity as the set point rather than 10/15 feet is making it work oat ot her ditances for you, I don't see a problem. It should work this way?
The lenses: You can use serrated needle nose pliers to loosen the rear retaining ring. And after removal of the lens tube, the middle ring can be loosened. Now you can move the lens tube back and forth. I've played with this and have had no real results of changing the focus of either rangefinder image. I may be missing something or may not be noticing improvements or changes. I have seen some separation in these lenses- newton rings- visible from the front. Maybe some lenses are simply never going to focus? Now there are ways to move the two 90 degree prisms in their mount and this can affect imaging for the rangefinder. But this is pushing my tolerance for random experimenting without any real understanding of optics and this particular setup. I assume that Kodak had some nice jigs and bench assemblies for making all 19 or whatever adjustments point play well with each other.
If you do find a way to make focus sharper, please let me know.
I may have gone through this earlier in this thread, or maybe I've changed my thinking since this thread, but the basic steps...
I assume that Kodak set up close focus to the camera standard- 3-1/2 tick mark at the infrared dot. So this becomes my reference point for installing the focus scale- rack lens out to stop, install scale.
And yes, my standard is to then set the scale to 10 feet (15 feet per Kodak manual). Using either adjustment screw, or bending the cam follower.
Now set focus on film plane and rangefinder to match using ground glass on film plane and the internal adjustment screw at upper right of lens tube back plate.
This gets me pretty close to infinity focus on rangefinder (distance electric tower for me) matching infinity on focus scale.
If using infinity as the set point rather than 10/15 feet is making it work oat ot her ditances for you, I don't see a problem. It should work this way?
Thanks @Dan Daniel
Lol I think I'll live with an inaccurate focus scale.
The top RF image is a bit fuzzy and hazy despite my best attempt at cleaning the glass surfaces. I thought maybe it was the focus? I don't think I'll mess with it. The rear VF lens has some spiderweb separation starting but it doesn't affect anything.
I went for the infinity adjustment because it's easier to set via the pseudo-collimator. I don't have a large enough target to precisely focus the on the GG at 10-15ft. Thanks again for the advice.
Lol I think I'll live with an inaccurate focus scale.
The top RF image is a bit fuzzy and hazy despite my best attempt at cleaning the glass surfaces. I thought maybe it was the focus? I don't think I'll mess with it. The rear VF lens has some spiderweb separation starting but it doesn't affect anything.
I went for the infinity adjustment because it's easier to set via the pseudo-collimator. I don't have a large enough target to precisely focus the on the GG at 10-15ft. Thanks again for the advice.
This is the target I came up for the Medalist. Printed on letter sized paper. The triangles work well for up/down setting of the lens tubes. Enough contrast for focus checking. I added some stickers I bought with that 'Siemens star' image to add an edge to looking at focus.
For 10 feet; might be a little small for fifteen, so print larger?
For 10 feet; might be a little small for fifteen, so print larger?
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Not sure what you mean. The front lens element for the 100mm Ektar?
It gets cranked down. And I've seen some sort of sealer in the threads in some cases- sort of a translucent brown material, looks like shellac at first but stronger and a bit more gummy.
Drip solvent under the edge. I've used a strap wrench at times. Wrap the lens edge with a layer of a 1/16" plumbing gasket, that red stuff in hardware stores, to protect and distribute force. Then the small one of these will grab it and usually work-
That same strap wrench can be used on the part that holds the shutter in place. And on the part that holds the focus helical assembly to the body. Reminds me, I need to pick up a new one as the rubber is wearing down after a few years.
Drip solvent under the edge. I've used a strap wrench at times. Wrap the lens edge with a layer of a 1/16" plumbing gasket, that red stuff in hardware stores, to protect and distribute force. Then the small one of these will grab it and usually work-
That same strap wrench can be used on the part that holds the shutter in place. And on the part that holds the focus helical assembly to the body. Reminds me, I need to pick up a new one as the rubber is wearing down after a few years.
Thanks again @Dan Daniel. Managed to take it off with a rubber band.
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