The best is a pre-WWII model which I bought 10 days ago - 2 range finders for £5 ($8), this is still bright & easy to use and quite surprisingly accurate, the downside is the scale is in feet the camera I'd want to use it with has a helical focus marked in meters. I've worked on a few range-finders before re-aligning & calibrating them and have 2 or 3 reasonably accurate external (hot shoe) ones. My experience is that some cameras come with a different FL lens to the cam, that was the case with my Crown Graphic, Hugo Meyer range0finder & 135mm Tessar, I swapped the cells to 150mm and an year later suddenly discovered the range-finder was accurate. The other two range-finders need looking at, someone had tinkered with the Super Graphic I knew that when I bought it cheap the other's just not fitted to a camera. Luckily a kind member of this forum passed on his spare half silvered mirror glass. You said wet blanket :D I half agree, I've 5 fixed range finders on LF cameras 3 work fine and are accurate but 2 of these 3 dimly, replacement beam splitter mirrors will help enormously.
The mirror coating is likely to be gone or going so a new 50/50 mirror section is needed - this requires some skill to mount. Sellers are usually unable to judge the Kalart's (and probably the other's) condition and functioning. At $150 you can expect a light-tight camera etc.
Sorry to be a wet blanket, but you cannot expect an elderly rangefinder to be in good order and capable of the adjustment range it had when it was new.
0 kommentar(er)
