Who fixes Mamiya Rangefinders in LA

[benjamin_shapiro]

I am interested in getting my

Mamiya 7 II and 65mm

rangefinder calibrated, since it

seems a bit off. I've read the

post at the Mamiya site and here

regarding how to calibrate it on

your own and am still debating

whether to venture forth. I

would rather try a repair shop in

LA (I'm not interested in waiting

for the turn-around at the

Mamiya service center in NY).

Does anyone recommend a

repair shop that can do or has

done this precisely -

International Camera Repair ?

 

Also, is there a way to manually

adjust the vertical alignment -

mine seems to be off towards

infinity and I didn't see any

mention of this in prior posts I

came across?

 

Also when doing the manual

adjustment (I'm still thinking

about it) doesn't your choice of

infinity matter? Ie. what's the

diff. between choosing the

moon and an object at 100 feet

and which is more appropriate

for correct alignment throughout

(usually isn't there play that

make the other end less

accurate?)?

 

Sorry for so many questions - it's

annoying to have to do this in

the 1st place.

 

Thanks,

Ben Shapiro

[ryuji_suzuki]

Before commiting to calibration, I suggest you make sure that you are

looking into the rangefinder from the correct direction. If you don't

look in straight, even if the true focus is zeroed-in, you are likely

to see the center image slightly off, either horizontally, vertically,

or both.

 

In my experience, this is the most common source of inaccurate focus

in many rangefinder cameras, but especially Mamiya 6/7 series, perhaps

because the eyepiece is large so that you feel you have more freedom in the eye position. This is a no-no.

 

What I usually say is that you make sure you see all framelines absolutely clearly, then focus, shoot. If the image is still off-focus, then it is probably that you need a calibration.

[juan_d.]

With a 35mm rangefinder camera, I cut a piece of ground glass to slightly larger than the film gate, locked the shutter open on "B", rubberbanded the glass snug against the film gate and then compared the image in the rangefinder to the image on the ground glass to check rangefinder accuracy. Make sure the ground glass sits flat on the film plane and doesn't ride up or sit further back than it should - most 35mm cameras have little film guide rails that may get in the way -- I don't know much about the insides of Mamiyas.<p> I got the idea from checking the accuracy of the rangefinder on a press camera by comparing the focus from the rangefinder to the focus on the ground glass.<p>

If it appears off, you can decide what to do.

[chris_patti1]

Mamiya USA has very fast turn-around and does very high quality work. I would send it to them rather than bring it to a local shop who may or may not know what they are doing and may end up taking just as long.

[john_hoang]

Stephan,

 

Very smart idea. Where can I get the ground glass? Thanks

 

John Hoang