No need! I understood that you were p*ed off by the perceived situation, and did not, even remotely, take it personally. If only all exchanges on photrio were as civil.
And, you might actually be OK. Some tips:
- Checking that a picture taken at infinity is sharp is not a very good test because (a) infinity probably means daylight, and less-than-fully-open diaphragm --enhanced depth of field masks any possible mis-alignment; (b) how shap is sharp enough? meaning that you want the best co-alignment of film plane and focus screen plane
- Without wasting any film, just check that a distant (1/2 km, or 1/4 mile) pole is just unbroken in the focus prism when the focus knob reaches infinity. Of course, this assumes that the focus knob did not conspire with the focus screen to have the same error respective to the taing lens...
- About the slanted wall test rightly suggested by @Dan Daniel ... Should be done at max aperture (f/3.5?) I prefer a chicken-wire fence, shot at 45° (a gravel alley is also OK), and be sure to visually flag the spot where you focused. Choose a time of day when you can shoot at full aperture. Use a tripod. Better to use 100 ISO film. Then the fine structures should blur in a symmetrical way on either side. Better than scratching your head: "sure it looks sharp, but could it have been sharper?".
- I was myself quite happy when I bought a rolleicord Vb for a good price, because of the split prism in the focus screen. Once I started using it, I practiced focusing on the fine GG spot, and only after, checking the split prism. Bottom line: I actually do as well with the GG; the split prism felt safer but is not really better. Practice and gain confidence. Some aftermarket screens have microprisms: I cannot offer advice on these.
- Did you contact Rick Oleson? IMO he has good communication.
- You can use a 35mm SLR to check infinity, in succession, for the taking lens and the focusing lens. You will need a target in the film plane; I use a ground glass; lacking that you can use a piece cut from a CD jewel case with light scratches to materialize the film plane; not tracing paper as I've read sometimes.
I took the lens off an Argus C3 to grease the helicoid. The way the lens is removed makes it fairly easy to throw off focus. As such I did a focus check to verify it went back together correctly. This method works to check focus on pretty much any camera. The Argus just makes it really easy to...
You should also find a description of the method in Rick Oleson's Tech Notes at:
Good luck
Thank you for your answer !
- So, I shot all the tests at f/3.5 because it just happened to be a rainy day, mid to late afternoon, and I was shooting at 1/125th outdoors and 1/60 indoors.
- The house at the end of the street (maybe 300-400 meters away) is where I tested, and the slanted roof was not broken, neither were the walls, at infinity. The rest of the tests were done putting the camera at the MFD and taking a mini step back and forth until it looked in focus. I chose the "silvery" shower head and the Rolleicord letters in the mirror.
- It will definitely take me a lot of practice to focus and frame. The first two shots I took in the forest were so confusing... between the left-right inversion and the fact that any sideway movement of the camera tilts everything the wrong way, it was a real pain ^^. But they say it comes with practice... and it's only my 2nd time manipulating it, so...
- I have not contacted Rick Oleson. I will wait and see what the roll looks like. If it's fine, then good. If not, I'll check the letter of instructions first, and maybe contact him last if I can't fix it.