Mamiya universal rangefinder clean and adjust

Does anyone know of a source of information on how to clean and adjust the rangefinder

on a Mamiya universal? Online would be best for me. Gee I don't want much huh.

 

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Thanx

Mark...

Allen

 

Mamiya America will sell you a copy of the manual that shows you how

to do the adjusting. Be careful cleaning the mirrored surfaces.

 

I am told that Polaroid sells a manual for the 600SE that has the

same/similar data.

 

I am investigating a source to reapply mirror finish to the parts that

need it, and I am looking into replacement new parts with modern, high

quality mirror finish. Perhaps one day we can replace the mirrors or

refinish them and restore the original look of the finder.

 

Hope this he

found in a long set of posts collected at

 

http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/mamiyauniv.html

 

 

 

 

From: helfrich@sonic.net (Gary Helfrich)

Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format

Subject: Re: mamiya press focusing

Date: 30 Sep 1998

 

alan (alleyro@earthlink.net) wrote:

 

: Is there a method for setting the range finder on these cameras. I t

: appears that the there must be an adjustment method for each lens,,help

 

 

The rangefinder as well as the cam on the lens can be adjusted. The rangefinder is far easier to adjust than the lens cams.

 

First, mount the camera on a tripod, and put the ground glass film holder on. The rangfinder cover is removed as follows: First, take off

the slider for the bright frame mask on the back. Next, remove the small Phillips head screw on the back and both sides of the rangefinder

housing. Lift the cover straight up.

 

There are three adjustment screws that are easy to reach. These control the mirror parallelism, infinity stop, and close focus offset. There

are adjustments for tracking the came deeper inside the rangfinder, but I would leave these alone.

 

Focus the camera on any near (3-5 meters) brightly lit object. If the superimposed image is offset in the vertical plane, adjust the screw in

the back of the mirror until the images line up.

 

Now focus the camera on an object at infinity. This means at least a kilometer away. Use a loupe on the ground glass to verify that you

are at infinity focus, rather than trusting the markings on the lens. Check to see that the rangfinder indicates focus. There are two screws

about 2 centimeters from the lower right corner of the rangfinder mirror. The closest one is the infinity adjustment.

 

Refocus on an object about 2 meters away. Use the screw angled in at 45 degrees that is furthest from the mirror to adjust the close focus.

 

At this point, the camera should focus accurately with the lens that you used for these adjustments. If the focus is still not accurate at all

points with this lens, then you should send the camera to a professional for any further adjustment.

 

I'd suggest using the 100mm lens for these adjustments. It is the only lens without a cam. (The rangefinder is driven directly off the back

of the focusing helicoid) I suspect that this is the lens that Mamiya used as the reference to set up the rangefinder in the first place.

 

Good luck

 

Gary Helfrich

Sorry, an addendum to my previous post: The layout described in this

post matches my Super 23 perfectly; it matches my Standard 23 not at

all. I'm guessing the other bright-frame rangefinders (Universal, 600SE) match the Super. I'll follow up with a post on the Standard

once I have time to figure out what the different screws do.

Dear Allen: I properly adjust range finders and all lenses to factory standard as part of service work on a lens or body. Restoring a lens to true factory standard is not always easy. It requires a linear momentum gauge to really do it right. To get some rangefinders back to standard, you must have the positioning jig. Both of these tools must be calibrated, not used, battered tools that have not been cared for. Most of the time I find that dried lube or rust is the problem with a rangefinder not performing correctly. Some have been bashed out of standard, but that can be fixed too. Tony Sansone. gmhsint@home.com See http://members.home.net/gmhsint for more info on repairs.

first link aboce is dead: here archived

Medium Format Cameras Library Page

Medium Format Camera Library List and Links Page

 

Pity Tony(Antony) Sansone is hard to reach-website gone the same with Willem-Jan Markerink(Worlds best phototech-site). since i dont have the link i cannot search in archive.org. is he-with chinese relatives-still alive? we must save his website and data.

Tony made a 4x5 back for Mamiya Universal/Super 23?

Got two Super 23 M and G

and 90mm crap-lens.

rangefinder and lens totally deadjusted. infinity cannot be reached.

Adjusting infinity.

First one need a lens which really is reaching infinity or beyond right?

I have read that infinity is more than 4km and its terrestrial, extraterrestrial is further away needs different adjustments.

Somewhere else is a discussion about custommade-lenses using 90 and 100mm-tubes. 90mm-tube for 80mm Zenzanon and 100mm for 65mm.

and there is a link to dropbox about a private-email-discussion. could not download on old winxp-pc. but can do on netbook.

maybe someone could post a link or open new thread.

in above links there are deep discussions and comparision. 50mm compared to other cams power.

Important:

My two Super 23 are crap regarding the built-in 35mm shift/tilt-unit. ITS WOBBLING. one cannot shoot when its windy then and long exposures.

Yes, its a shame some of this carefully-compiled info is gone now (victim of evolving web standards and site popularity). Several wonderful archives vanished between 1999 and 2009, or were migrated multiple times, lost, relaunched (Neil Patterson's Mamiya trove, the Butkus site. etc). The several old posts here mentioning other glass like Bronica re-mounted into Press barrels were especially intriguing, but details on how to accomplish this transplant never appeared.

 

The surviving 90mm Press lenses are not usually very good. Most Press enthusiasts today find the 100mm f/3.5 an acceptable performer, tho not as good as the gold standard 100mm f/2.8. The solid full-circle cam of the 100mm f/3.5 has the most consistent rangefinder compatibility and infinity accuracy across body variations, making it the most common basis for rangefinder adjustments. The cam in the 150mm and 250mm lenses is poorly designed and a pain to adjust, the 65mm cam uses shims and tends to need adjustment for each body. The 75mm cam is similar to the 100mm design, the 50mm hews closer to the 65mm cam (with some improvements).

 

The tilt/shift feature (in the models that have it) was always a bit wonky, and prone to problems (one reason the Super 23 was finally dropped and the non-tilt Universal continued alone). Like the "G" mount Graflok option, the tilt/shift was primarily a lure to entice Graflex pros to migrate over to Mamiya. While limited in scope and questionably implemented, it worked well enough in studio situations, or for adjusting focus for large groups in corporate or wedding shoots. Less effective for outdoor landscapes, as you've noted.

There is a thread or link to dropbox(here?) where someone-dr butler has made a bronica zenzanon 80(90 tube) and 65mm(10mm tube)-conversion. 65mm producing blue fringe- remembers sigma-foveon with old WA-glass!

90mm i have is crap, tube already not turning smoothly. must be stopped down, totally deadjusted, doesnt reach invinity only with backbellows-.need tube only but maybe we make a pinhole-lens. adapting skinkphoto-stuff(pinhole, zoneplate, zonesieve).

right-angle finder is fantastic, focussing seems to work. we will see in the field.

150mm blue-top notch! matching viewfinder infinity maybe ok. have only 300m here. i have technical pan on 70mm to test(vacuum back and i have also two vaccum backs version 3- 67/220, one made simularly like in Contax RTS III(has only three slits with one hole each in center. the vaccum-system on custom-made back 1 are cross-lines. second back seems wrong design. four hole and center hole which is sucking into other direction! tested and examined obviously with open back.

Tony told the the K-type and vers. 2 type back dont have filmflatness problem. he said thanks to film-guidances system. but i have vers. 2 and 3 and i dont see any difference. So what is the truth?

150mm blue with 35mm bellows closeup. 36mm wide image=1: 4.4 on 6x9(82mm wide) 1m exactly. 2m viewfinder matches exaclty. measured with ruler and sonar-rangefinder. this lens must be stopped down a bit. it seem not getting the same resolution like with normal distances. 40m looked through.

i will take care of more informations an post the links and files. where to upload? beside MF and Largeformat in FB? photo-net once had its own Mamyia Universal/Super 23-forum.

The wayback machine has some of these pages archived.

Here's an example: Mamiya Universal Medium Format Rangefinder Camera

 

Quite a lot of medium format info from the ancient monaghan super site can be found there.

Edited April 27, 2019 by lance_blakeslee