Tilted horizons??

[kier]

Hi All -
Got my first Leica - the old IIIf with the 50mm/2 collapsible lens. Lab just emailed me the first color results and there's...issues. I have 10 shots (on a 36 shot roll) where the horizon line is VERY tilted (about 20º). Now, I'm a landscape photographer naturally and, while I make mistakes, it's pretty rare for me to be more than 1º or 3º off level. I'm wondering - is it possible that maybe I didn't have the collapsible lens turned into the lock position? I mean, it doesn't make sense that not having it locked would tilt the image, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Ideas? TIA

 

[AgX]

It can't be the lens.
It can be the frame of the finder. Reason might be a misalignment of the complete finder housing in relation to the camera body. Such can be corrected by washers.

 

[BAC1967]

If you're not using a Leica FILCA film cassette that the camera was made for your film cassette may be causing the film to be slightly off. That probably wouldn't account for the amount you're talking about but standard 135 cassettes are A few millimeters shorter than the FILCA. I would have the camera looked at because like AgX said it could be the viewfinder. The viewfinder is not a straight pass through so something could be misaligned with the internal optics.

 

[kier]

Ah - thanks guys - I think I figured it out. I was just playing with putting it up to my eye in a natural motion and just now realized that the bottom of the viewfinder is eclipsed by the barrel of the lens. I always use the bottom of the frame to line things up, so with that curve of the barrel, it's almost exactly the same lol

Glad the problem is me thanks again!