Komaflex-s Focus adjustment

[Daire Quinlan]

I've come into a Komaflex-s, and some 127. Put a roll through and mechanically the camera is all good (though missing a set screw on the front focusing lens assembly which means it be screwed rigggght off) but the camera is heavily front focusing i.e. I focus middle distance and the ground in front of me is in focus and middle distance is ... not.

Looks like someone has already been into the camera, or tried, as the screws holding the hood & focusing assembly to the body were 1. badly mauled and 2. feel as though they're made of putty which might explain #1. Copious careful work with delicate application of penetrating oil, overnight stays etc and I got the assembly off. Thanks to the inimitable Rick Oleson here http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/ for having what seems to be literally the only repair/service related material on the Komaflex.

I have a bit of ground glass pressed up against the film rails at the back as a focal plane test.

So the focusing screen is adjusted with three small grub screws. Now the _problem_ I've hit is that even with those grub screws screwed all the way in until they're _just_ about to fall out i.e. moving the focus screen away from the body as much as possible, the GG doesn't quite agree with the focal plane. I can shim the focusing screen a bit, not a problem, and make it match up with the focal plane focusing, but obviously there's something wrong here in that the focus should match up, I'm guessing, somewhere in the middle of those grub screws movement, allowing for slight adjustments either way, not still be off at the extreme end of the movement. There's a mirror stop but from what I can see there's no way to adjust that though I haven't gone in through the side of the camera quite yet.

Anyone adjusted these before ? Any obvious issues I'm missing ?

 

[Daire Quinlan]

Here's an example, I had focused on that grey bit of machinery, you can see that the actual focal point is way closer to me. This was pretty consistent across the roll.

Just as an aside though, is the Komaflex-s just not the _cutest_ camera ever ? The size, the neat grey trim, that you can explain to anyone who asks about the camera that no-one has the faintest idea why it's called the Komaflex and not the Kowaflex ?

 

[koraks]

This problem sounds similar to what many have run into (myself included) with Mamiya 645 cameras. In that case, the problem is a mirror stop that's out of alignment, resulting in incorrect positioning of the mirror. This translates to a focus problem on the ground glass. This can be 'corrected' by shimming the ground glass, but in the case of the Mamiya, re-adjustment (or replacement) of the mirror stop is the proper solution. I would at least verify/look into this possibility on your camera as well.

There's a mirror stop but from what I can see there's no way to adjust that

Somehow, the mirror needs to travel back to its original spot after the exposure cycle finishes. Maybe it's not the stop proper, but the mirror mechanism where the problem is. Does the mirror rest against the stop? Is there any foam layer or other degradable material that may have gone missing?