Mamiya 7 Rangefinder problems/questions

[blankk]

Hey guys. I bought my Mamiya 7 a month or so ago and as soon as I got it I noticed it was out of calibration. I sent it back, they say they gave it to Mamiya to be recalibrated, and then sent it to me.

I get it back, still can't make the images line up (patch image was higher or lower by quite a bit, can't remember which). So I give it to my local shop, Kurt's Camera Repair, which has a great rep. They calibrate it, and I'm still unsure that it's perfect... it was very hard to focus and I knew the infinity was off a bit. I gave it back and they said it did look like it was slightly out of calibration, so they re-calibrated it and held on to it for a couple days to make sure it wasn't slipping, and gave it back.

Anyway, the infinity adjustment definitely still is off a little bit. The lens stops at infinity like it should, but I can always make the image look a tiny bit sharper if I turn it a very small amount back away from infinity. Would this cause a big problem with normal focusing? I'm not sure how these things work yet.

The rest seems OK, but sometimes it looks like the patch image is slightly higher than the normal image, even if I can align them side-to-side. It can be difficult to tell once the images are lined up whether the patch is still higher though.

Any ideas? Should I try maybe calibrating the camera myself if it's not too difficult? I'm using the 80mm btw.

Thanks!

 

[vedmak]

well looks like rangefinder is out of alignment, could be when you bump the camera, mirror in the rangefinder moves a bit both in vertical and horizontal direction, I am surprised, it happens though after camera has been re-calibrated by 2 shops, could be the lens, but it should not cause the ghost image to be higher. Did you give camera and lens to repair shop, or just the camera?

 

[blankk]

I gave both to the shop. Can the vertical alignment be adjusted easily?

 

[vedmak]

I never had Mamiya, on Leicas there is a screw to adjust horizontal position of the ghost image, in order to adjust the vertical you need to change the tilt of the mirror in the rangefinder. Having said that I do not understand why did none of the repair shops corrected that? What do they say about the problem?

 

[j_landecker]

My M7 lenses all focus slightly past infinity - I think the system is designed that way. To check that the lens is focused on the film plane when the rangefinder is aligned on a distant subject, either shoot some film (lens wide open) or open the back and with the shutter on B, put a piece of ground glass across the film rails and check the focus with a loupe. Check some closer distances at the same time.

 

[L Gebhardt]

I bought a second one (came almost free with the 80mm lens). However the focus was way off. I thought about sending it out, but decided to do it myself. I found some directions online and it worked out perfectly. I used a ground glass to check both near and far focus with all my lenses. I only turned the main screw, but there is a secondary screw, which may adjust the vertical alignment. After the adjustment you need to lock the screw down with loctite (and loosen it with acetone). Maybe your repair shops didn't lock it down which would explain why it keeps going out of adjustment.

 

[jhw]

Curious if this is a defect or not; I've had 2 7's and 3 6's...and all behaved the same as J, above, noted: they were most crisp when I pulled them just a touch back from full infinity focus.

 

[olwick]

Most lenses are designed that way (to go past infinity). It has to do with allowance by manufacturers for thermal changes. Your behaviour is normal.

Mark