Agfa Super Isolette rangefinder adustment

[jett]

My RF is misaligned; how do I adust it? I've never tinkered inside a camera before, is this a DIY job or am i better off sending it in?

[Brian Legge]

Honestly, I'd normally suggest poking around but this is a nice enough camera that I'd probably pay someone to do it. In general, you're likely to mess up the first camera (or five) you work on in any significant way. If this isn't a trivial adjustment I'd see if you can find a basic camera repair person to do it.

[jnoir]

It is not hard at all, but since the camera is valuable enough, if I were you I'd send it to a trained repairman.

You must remove the top cover, and then you will see the rangefinder housing. The vertical alignment can be adjusted with a hole for that purpose on the top cover of the housing. The horizontal adjustment requires opening the housing and playing with the mechanism to adjust it.

[jett]

Thanks! Roughly, how much would it cost to get adjusted? Any reccomendations?

It sounds easy, but I'll take your advice and send it to someone who knows what they're doing.

Also, is the procedure basically the same for all rangefinders? I have a few 70's Japanese ones that are just fine, but adjusting the rangefinder seems like a valuable skill to have in the event that one of them gets misaligned or if I run into this problem with a future camera.

Since there is a risk involved, it makes sense to start off with some cheaper, maybe even a broken, dime a dozen ones first.

[jnoir]

Not sure where you're located, if in Europe I can do it for you just for the shipping costs, I've already CLA'd a few of them xD

Since I do my own repairs, I do not know how much a professional would charge. I wouldn't pay more than 50USD in any event, it's easy if you know what you are doing and should not take more than half an hour.

Unless, of course, there is a weak spring or something like that and a spare is required, but it is not that frequent at all.

About the procedure itself, I cannot say for 35mm cameras, since I use classic MF gear only, but all folders share roughly the same mechanism. Sometimes the RF is combined, sometimes is uncombined, but the principle of work is the same so the design is pretty close between camera makers, or again if you are experienced enough, you would be able to figure the differences.

[jett]

Thank you Jnoir, but I'm located in the US. So maybe I'll try to find someone local and just use it scale-focus in the meantime.

[graywolf]

Probably best to have a complete CLA done on it while you are at it. A company that has a good reputation and is not over priced is Essex Camera in NJ. You can contact them at info@essexcamera.com.

Something that I have recently found out is that you can have a camera CLA in a way that takes into consideration how much use it will receive. For professional use, typical amateur use, or a collectable.

Collectables should not be lubricated, they are likely to only have a few rolls run through them, and then set on a shelf for years and years where the lubes would just gum up again.

For amateur use they should be lightly lubed, as they will only be used for a few hundred rolls of film and will go a long time between CLA's.

Professional use, the camera with have thousands of rolls of film run through it between frequent CLA's, And therefore, should be more heavily lubricated, with more expensive lubricants.

However, any decent CLA should include adjusting hte rangefinder.