Yashicamat close-up lenses

[monkowa]

Hey y'all. I got a problem. I bought a cheap pack of close-up bay-I mount lenses from OMAX ( I know, I know) for my Yashicamat, but they work great, imaging is solid. However, their janky quality is leaving me puzzled. See, the macro lens has a parallax correction so you can take close up shots but there's no indication on the lens itself to tell when it's aligned. I can twist it around and see the image in the viewfinder move around, so I know it definitely has the parallax correction, but I cant figure out how to align correctly and my lack of being able to tell direction is confusing me even more.
You peeps got any solutions?

 

[Dan Daniel]

Rotate the viewing lens until it shows the most amount at the bottom, the image lowered the most in the viewfinder. As you rotate the lens back and forth past this point, the image in the viewfinder will 'rise.' It will also move from side to side but this might be hard to see.

 

[BrianShaw]

Normally there's a red dot that indicates UP. If not, what Dan suggests will work.

 

[monkowa]

Rotate the viewing lens until it shows the most amount at the bottom, the image lowered the most in the viewfinder. As you rotate the lens back and forth past this point, the image in the viewfinder will 'rise.' It will also move from side to side but this might be hard to see.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you. I was getting it confused in my brain that the image should be towards the top.

 

[DWThomas]

I have an OMAX +1 set for use with my 124G (tho I can't remember when I last used it!). It is installed correctly when the "OMAX" is right side up at the top. Owning only one, I make the rash assumption that is by design, but admit it could be an accident!

If in doubt, you can check by parking the camera on a table, place a small box next to the lenses to provide a vertical surface perpendicular to the table top and draw an 'X' at the height of the taking lens center. Move the box a half meter or so away from the camera and focus with the +1 viewing lens installed. The 'X' should be in the center of the ground glass. (You can even put a different symbol at the height of the viewing lens which should show up as well above the center as a cross check.)

The OMAX widget seems OK, though I've not really tested it thoroughly. Some cheap plastic Bay-1 filters I got off ePrey seem to have a smaller diameter glass area and are taller/deeper than Rollei Bay-1s. They vignette and clip the corners of the frame a bit. With patience I eventually found some Rolleis at reasonable prices.