Dear all,
I bought a used Minolta XD7 (identical to the XD11 sold in the US), which works perfectly despite a misalignment of the focus through the eyepiece and the result on the film. With the aperture open, my focus is always behind the plane I'm trying to focus on. However, the misalignment is small enough for narrow apertures to compensate. I use M42 lenses through an adapter, but recently decided to use native MD/MC lenses from Minolta and also noticed that I can't go to infinity through the eyepiece. I assumed that I had messed up the focus somehow. But with that in mind, I'm looking for a solution.
About myself: I'm somewhere between amateur and intermediate when it comes to do-it-yourself repairs. With a manual or a good hint I can work ok. So I have already tried to find some repair manuals or videos. However, I cannot seem to find anything. I have already taken a look at the ground glass and if it is not aligned properly. A photo of the current state is attached. From my point of view, the ground glass is properly mounted inside the body. It seems that the camera was also dropped before I bought it. A picture of the dent on top of the prism is also included. If it is not the prism, I assume that the screw holding the mirror in the non-triggered state is slightly misplaced. I cannot find any reference to ways to "recalibrate" the focus properly. Does anyone have a good source/manual/etc. that might be helpful? I've seen DIY collimator manuals before. So this tool should not be a problem.
Looking forward to your responses. Also apologies if I did not use the correct terminology in my post.
Best,
z0r
I bought a used Minolta XD7 (identical to the XD11 sold in the US), which works perfectly despite a misalignment of the focus through the eyepiece and the result on the film. With the aperture open, my focus is always behind the plane I'm trying to focus on. However, the misalignment is small enough for narrow apertures to compensate. I use M42 lenses through an adapter, but recently decided to use native MD/MC lenses from Minolta and also noticed that I can't go to infinity through the eyepiece. I assumed that I had messed up the focus somehow. But with that in mind, I'm looking for a solution.
About myself: I'm somewhere between amateur and intermediate when it comes to do-it-yourself repairs. With a manual or a good hint I can work ok. So I have already tried to find some repair manuals or videos. However, I cannot seem to find anything. I have already taken a look at the ground glass and if it is not aligned properly. A photo of the current state is attached. From my point of view, the ground glass is properly mounted inside the body. It seems that the camera was also dropped before I bought it. A picture of the dent on top of the prism is also included. If it is not the prism, I assume that the screw holding the mirror in the non-triggered state is slightly misplaced. I cannot find any reference to ways to "recalibrate" the focus properly. Does anyone have a good source/manual/etc. that might be helpful? I've seen DIY collimator manuals before. So this tool should not be a problem.
Looking forward to your responses. Also apologies if I did not use the correct terminology in my post.
Best,
z0r
), don't worry, it doesn't simply unscrew. See how the rim around the screw head is thicker toward the front or bottom in your pic? Turn that part toward the mirror!
. Yes, I have taken some beautiful photos with the CLE and it has a lot of fun aspects. However...if was going to be using a lens longer than the 40mm f2 and I had to choose the between the CLE or an X-700,XD,XE, SRT...No contest... But I digress, Back to the Tokina/XD) I quickly noticed that my XD and XD-7 just could not align at infinity (>200' for instance) Every other distance is sharp...it was just that last little turn. The XD was a little farther off than the XD-7. I have cleaned lenses and I'm familiar with setting the infinity focus when reassembling the helical(s). At first I thought that the lens might be the problem. So I tried the Tokina on the other 5 camera bodies to confirm infinity focus was good. Researching online, I discovered the XD Series set screw/adjustment discussion boards. First, I ordered the XD Series repair manual for Learn Camera Repair, (I want to learn what is really going on with this screw/bushing/adjustment). While I wait on the repair manual download, I examined the strike zone on the "bushing", which is clamped by the set screw. Also examined the back of the mirror. (on both cameras) Obvious flattening of the bushing on both cameras. The XD was maybe a tiny bit more flattened. I estimate that the flattened part of the bushing was higher than the outer edge of the screw by about 1/2 the thickness of the slot in the screw. (significant wear compared to the height of the bushing where the mirror does not hit) On the XD the mirror also had a wear mark. (The XD-7 did not), I carefully cut small rectangles of Scotch 700 vinyl electrical tape (approx 2mm x 4mm). I did not touch the fresh adhesive on the rectangles and positioned them over the bushing strike zone. I gently tamped the tape with angled tweezers, the tape adheres very well to the bushing. It took like 10 minutes. Scotch 700 is .007"/.1778 ml thick. One layer made an obvious improvement. All close distances up to ~300' are sharply in focus. Still, 300' isn't the moon, so I added a 2nd layer. Very happy...@~300' the split circle aligns perfectly. Also, there is a tiny(tiny) bit more focus left. I will focus on the moon asap. I imagine that over time, the mirror slap might flatten the strike zone a little bit. That is OK because this was so easy to adjust. A silver lining to this infinity cloud is that as long as the lens can focus to infinity, your photo will also be in focus at infinity only you just cannot see it at the time. 
