Zeiss iKon 515 lens alignment issue

Hello!
I have a Zeiss iKon 515 folder whose lens does not appear to be parallel with the film plane. It appears as it opens to fold past the parallel plane, ie it over rotates past parallel. Does anyone know how to repair this? I have put a roll of film through the camera and I can't say I notice any issues with the photos with the shots I took, but would imagine that depending upon the subject it could show as skewing of the subject matter (think a brick wall with one side having the bricks wider than the other).
Also, does anyone know of a tutorial for cleaning and lubricating these cameras which recommends what types of oils to use and what kind of cleaners to use on the lens itself? Thanks for your help! I'd like to take this camera with me to Iceland as a "for fun" camera to accompany my main camera but would like to get the best chance of good images with it while I'm there. Thanks for your help!

First: How do you know the lens is not parallel? From just looking at it, I find it impossible to say except in extreme cases. My experience with Zeiss folders is that they are rarely out of whack because the mechanism for erecting the lens is very sturdy.

If it is off, fixing it is not too hard but you do need an SLR camera and a 50 mm lens or longer.

Basically, you do something like this https://feuerbacher.net/photo/repair/InfinityFocus/InfinityFocus.html or this http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-123.html

Shining a bright light onto the film plane from the back helps the vertical scratches show up. You don't need film or ground glass though. If you have access to long-ish strands of fine hair (toddlers, women, well-groomed gentlemen lucky enough to have it), you can also tape those aross the film plane. It's enough to have one near the respective corners but do make sure it is taut.

Looking through the SLR you can now check if your marks/hairs are in focus all the way across the film plane. The lens may be out of parallel along the Y- as well as the Z-axis, so check the top as well as the bottom ends of your marks/hair.

The idea is to – very carefully – bend the standard along the Y and Z axis until all the marks/hairs are in focus.

PS: Of course infinity can of course also be off simply because the lens elements have not been screwed in the right way or because focus needs to be adjusted at the helicoid.

Ces1um said:

Hello!
I have a Zeiss iKon 515 folder whose lens does not appear to be parallel with the film plane. It appears as it opens to fold past the parallel plane, ie it over rotates past parallel.

Click to expand...

Just by eye? Suggested procedure:

• Have a spirit level
• level a base (table...)
• as needed insert a parallel block of wood resting (a) on the table; (b) against the film rails (back door open
• rest the spirit level on the front rim of the lens is it level?

What lens? What max aperture?

I have put a roll of film through the camera and I can't say I notice any issues with the photos with the shots I took, but would imagine that depending upon the subject it could show as skewing of the subject matter (think a brick wall with one side having the bricks wider than the other).

Click to expand...

"No problem" may or not be meaningful depending on the diaphragm setting. Rather than "one side having the bricks wider than the other" you should worry about bricks on one side (or both) being out of focus while bricks on the other side (or in the center) are in focus. Suggested procedure:

• select brick wall in open shade or at dusk so you can take a picture at maximum aperture (small f-number) without overexposing (or at least not to much, 2-3 stops over won't prevent the test)
• align camera so back is parallel to wall, distance maybe 2m
• adjust focus accordingly
• take pic at max aperture and the 2 next apertures, e.g. f/4.5, f/5.6, f/8 (adjust shutter accordingly)
• develop
• scan or inspect with a loupe

Also, does anyone know of a tutorial for cleaning and lubricating these cameras which recommends what types of oils to use and what kind of cleaners to use on the lens itself?

Click to expand...

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Oil in the wrong place (or migrating to the wrong places) will do more harm than good.
For the lens. First remove all dust and grit with a painter's brush or an air blower. Next you can use window cleaner sparingly and a soft piece of cotton, very gently. An old handkerchief would be ideal.

It would help if you would show a picture of the camera with a close-up on the lens, and some pictures from your test film, together with picture data (f/stop, shutter speed, used a tripod?)

I check alignment using a simple laser pointer held in a vice.

One needs two microscope slides. One (which would need to be cut to size) is mounted on the back of the lens with the camera back open.
Shine the laser and mark where the light bounces back.

Then, without moving the laser or the camera, put a microscope slide on the frame rails. If the laser light bounces back to the same place, the front and back are in alignment.

ic-racer said:

I check alignment using a simple laser pointer held in a vice.

One needs two microscope slides. One (which would need to be cut to size) is mounted on the back of the lens with the camera back open.
Shine the laser and mark where the light bounces back.

Then, without moving the laser or the camera, put a microscope slide on the frame rails. If the laser light bounces back to the same place, the front and back are in alignment.

Click to expand...

I don't understand at all what you're proposing but it sounds interesting. Do you mean for the slide to be mounted right up against the back element? The laser to be pointed from the front through the lens? Does the laser beam get reflected back from the slides?

Maybe a diagram would help.

Anyway, no offense to anyone, but the SLR-indoors-infinity method is imo the most practical because a) most people have an SLR and 50 mm lens and a piece of cellotape or similar, and b) you can check synchronously with no need to develop film.

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your suggestions. This one is pretty easy to see that it’s out of alignment. Has to be at least 10 degrees off and is visible with the naked eye. Just lining it up against the case you can see that it isn’t aligned. I can see at one point someone had the rear retaining ring off from the lens because of the scratches on the paint. I’m wondering if when they put the lens back on if it wasn’t fully seated or perhaps a shim was forgotten or something of the like. When I get home I will try and upload a photo of it

The back element doesn't have shims, iirc the retaining ring just has to be screwed all the way home.

If you mean that the whole front standard is leaning 10° out of true, it should be easy enough to realign it with the abovementioned method.

Just remember that if you still can't get infinity focus even with the standard in parallel, chances are someone took out the front element and didn't put it back properly. There is only one proper way to thread it and you have to kind of trial-and-error it.

henryvk said:

it should be easy enough to realign it with the abovementioned method.

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Easy enough to put bent metal struts into original shape? Good luck.

henryvk said:

I don't understand at all what you're proposing but it sounds interesting. Do you mean for the slide to be mounted right up against the back element? The laser to be pointed from the front through the lens? Does the laser beam get reflected back from the slides?

Maybe a diagram would help.

Anyway, no offense to anyone, but the SLR-indoors-infinity method is imo the most practical because a) most people have an SLR and 50 mm lens and a piece of cellotape or similar, and b) you can check synchronously with no need to develop film.

Click to expand...

Laser comes in from the back. Bounce the laser off the rear element (need a glass plate over it if the rear element is convex or concave) and compare to the same beam bounced off a glass plate on the film rails. This is how to set the front detents to zero on a view camera. In the case of a 'folder' one would have to bend things a little to get it aligned.

Sorry for the delay. Here’s a photo. I lined my iPhones framing lines parallel with the case of the camera so if you use that as a reference you should be able to see the front standard seems over rotated or bent

And if you’re interested in how it’s shooting- follow the link to my lomography page. I haven’t used this camera in 5 years because I kind of gave up on film photography about 4-5 years ago and I’m just now kind of getting back into it.

bernard_L said:

Easy enough to put bent metal struts into original shape? Good luck.

Click to expand...

No luck is required. When you have marks on the film plane that you can continuously check with an SLR it is not hard. It's probably not the struts themselves that are bent but the foot and the lens retaining part of the front standard. As you can see in the picture, they are stamped sheet metal and bend much more easily than the (pretty rigid) struts.

Anyway, while they are capable of producing decent results, these are not high precision professional cameras, no need to be in too much awe of them.