Taron Auto-EL info and help in checking lens assembly?

I bought this Taron rangefinder some time ago at a closing camera

shop sale for $ 12, with the intention to use it as a carry

anywhere, steal-it-if-you-want camera. I have not been able to find

much useful information about the camera or about Taron on the web

so, after searching photo.net carefully, I decided to ask for help

here, since I think it my little Taron was launched before 1970 (I

would guess 1965-8 from the design). My excuses if I am wrong.

 

It has a Copal shutter (1 to 1/500 seg) and a Tosicor 1.8/40 mm lens

which looks perfectly clean. All shutter speeds fire and seem

accurate. The camera has shutter priority auto exposure that seems

accurate enough according to the 12 or so rolls I have fed it so

far. I have shot Fuji Superia 100, Fuji chromes 400, and several

flavors of Kodak negative color film, plus my regulation FP4+ bulk

loaded. Exposure has come out right in every case.

 

As for condition, the camera seems to have seen little previous use.

The focus movement was stuck, but my friendly repair technician set

it free in seconds. The rangefinder mirror is dim but with the help

of Rick Oleson's patch (that was real genius) it is usable.

 

However, the sharpness of the negatives is not acceptable. I know, I

know, one does not expect the Tosicor to perform as a Zeiss or Leitz

piece. But anything larger than a 4x6 print is noticeably unsharp,

real bad. Anybody out there can tell me if the Tosicor has a bad

reputation?

 

The outer ring of the lens assembly has a small lateral play, about

1 mm or a bit less, as the crude red arrows show. It looks as if

there is some slack somewhere and the ring moves against a loaded

spring. The lens surface moves a bit, but much less than the play of

the outer ring. My technician tells me that it is just the way the

things were assembled, but I really have my doubts because of the

sharpness problem. I would like to partially disassemble to check

myself.

 

Could someone point me to instructions or diagrams on how to

disassemble this lens assembly? (or maybe someone could point to a

site for a camera with a similar design?)

 

What could be the cause of the lateral play? could it be normal,

maybe there is someone with a similar camera around?

 

Any site or place for information about Taron?

 

I am posting some images of the camera below.<div></div>

Movement of the front ring is about 1 mm laterally in each direction as shown by arrows.<div></div>

Top view of the camera.<div></div>

I have one of these (actually a relabeled one with a 'Porst Auto 35ES' engraving'). I did not try it yet. But I don't think your problem is related to the loose lens barrel.

 

First you should check whether the markings on the lens barrel match with the rangefinder image. If not, very probably the rangefinder is misadjusted. The shake of the front part of the lens barrel probably is due to a somewhat loose shutter cover. You can remove the retainer ring of bezel with the light meter cell and unscrew the front lens cell. There should be a ring nut around the shutter collar you may try to tighten.

 

If the rangefinder is adjusted correctly you may try to readjust the lens. There should be some tiny grub screws around the focus ring, you can loosen them and set the focus ring to a different position. There are several methods described for checking the focus - you may try it roughly with a piece of ground glass pressed against the inner film guide rails with the ground surface towards the film rails.

<p>This looks similar to the f1.8 version of the Japanese-market Taron VL, which was advertised from August till the end of 1959. But that has an exposure meter at the top. <a href="http://www11.plala.or.jp/minokan/other/other%20taron.htm">Here</a> is one of several models of the earlier VR. If I read it right (and I'm sleepy), <a href="http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~rd2h-ari/camara_story_1.htm">this page</a> (in Japanese) says that the Auto-EL was the last Taron, sold after Taron had gone bust, and only outside Japan.</p>

Actually the Taron Auto-EL rather is the successor of the Taron Auto-EE. The latter has the CdS cell close to the rangefinder window in the top cover. Since it is not possible to move an aperture ring in front of the CdS cell together with the ASA and speed ring to couple their settings to the meter, it uses a mechanical linkage between the speed and ASA dial and the meter assembly. Somewhat similar to the Konica Auto-S, the base of the galvanometer is moved when turning the speed or ASA dial.

 

The Auto-EL has a somewhat advanced meter setup. The ASA and speed ring move a ring with tiny apertures in front of the CdS cell, thus linking their settings to the meter. However, the Auto-EL still uses many of the components previously used on the meter assembly of the Auto-EE.

 

Both cameras seem to be designed as a competition with the Konica Auto-S (Taron Auto-EE) or the Auto-S2 (Taron Auto-EL) respectively, but none of the Taron cameras comes close to the clever designed and well built Konica cameras.

Winfried and Peter, many thanks for the help.

 

The rangefinder seems accurate, in the sense that the distance markings read correctly against measured distances to the focused object. Also at infinite (with lens fully in) the rangefinder shows very far objects in perfect focus and the infinite mark is dead on the mark.

 

It seems very likely that a focus adjustment is needed, since nothing in the negatives is really sharp, even at small apertures. I plan to check the focus this weekend with a ground glass or similar device. If adjustments are needed I will disassemble, and at the same time will try to find the cause of the lateral play. Will post again if I find anything interesting.

 

Thanks also for the information about Taron. Can anybody tell me when it was that Taron went bust? It does seem that the Auto-EL was one of the last cameras produced, by looking at the design evolution.

I checked the camera at home with a home made screen, focus was bad. Chickened out of adjusting it myself because I do not have the appropiate tools, and worst of all not enough space to leave a half disassembled camera safely.

 

Went instead back to my friendly technician, who agreed this time that something was indeed wrong. He adjusted focus and collimated the lens. Got the camera back today.

 

Now planning to shoot this weekend and post the results in order to close the thread.

I loaded a 24 exp Fuji 200 in the Taron Auto-EL and went to shoot around Buceo port, this afternoon. The lens seems to perform normally. This is an example, at small apertures (1/250 f16). I am not very good at sharpening after scanning 35 mm negs in my Genius old flatbed, so this is just for verification.

 

Thanks Winfried and Peter again for your help.<div></div>