RF alignment tips - with photos

[tmessenger]

Here are some tips on DIY finder adjusting. Note: When I looked around on the net for information on adjusting the R-D1 finder I didn’t have much luck finding a good explanation. I’m sharing my own experience and observations (I’m not an expert) I can only tell you how I went about it. There may be better ways of getting the results you want. I assume no responsibility for your camera if you muck it up.

The first thing I want to point out is what the adjusting screws # 1~3 do. These screws are accessible by removing the hot shoe and should cover the adjustments you need to make to correct an out of alignment finder. Look at #4 this is the rear element of the finder patch lens (see photo). This element is mounded on a bracket that is connected by linkage and swings left or right as the lens cam pushes the roller in or out. This in effect swings the patch in the finder left to right as you move the lens focus. Problems arise when the either the finder patch does not agree with the lens or the patch is not aligned top to bottom or the patch is not in focus. Lets start with infinite focus. If the finder patch is not aligned vertically (top to bottom) when your lens is set to infinite focus use the #3 vertical alignment screw to make corrections. This screw moves the lens bracket up and down and the finder patch up and down. If your finder patch is not aligned horizontal (side to side) use the #2 horizontal adjusting screw. This screw swings the bracket left or right and your finder patch side to side. If your finder patch is not clear and focused use the #1 focusing screw. This screw moves the bracket in and out and focuses the finder patch lens. Here there is a problem you need to be aware of when adjusting the focusing screw, it also move the finder patch horizontally a bit. So get the patch in focus then go back to the #2 horizontal adjusting screw and make corrections. Sometimes you have to go back and forth a bit to get the horizontal screw and focusing screw coordinated.

There is a pitfall you’ll need to be aware of: The #1 and #2 eccentric screws ride in a slot and this slot can be gummed up with sealing compound. These screws are sealed at the factory with sealing compound and with my camera the compound had run down into the slot and prevented adjustment. This is easy to deal with when the top is removed I just soaked the compound with lacquer thinner on a small artist brush and cleaned it out. Don’t know it you can do this easily with the top in place? but maybe you’ll be lucky and the slots will be clear.

After you get the finder in perfect alignment at infinite focus check the 1m adjustment. I used a tripod and a yardstick set at a 45 degree angle. You want to get the film / sensor plane set 1m from a know point on the yardstick. As far as I can tell the sensor plane is right around 1” or 25.4mm back from the front of the camera (see the illustration). With your lens scale set at 1m the finder patch should be aligned (this assumes your lens is correctly collimated and the scale is accurate). Take a test shot with the lens aperture opened up and make sure it is not front or back focusing. If your lens is not focusing correctly at 1m but your finder is correctly adjusted at infinite focus then the base length adjustment is off or your lens is off. Note: the finder patch has parallax error (it's not in the center of the frame lines) at 1m take this into consideration when making this adjustment. The base length adjusting screw is not shown in the photo but #5 is where it’s at. This adjustment can only be made with the top plate removed and this is probably beyond the skill level of most tinkers.

Good luck

Tim




RF.jpgD1.jpg





RD1 top plate removal:

You should be confident with working with small parts and have some mechanical know-how before proceeding. But again my disclaimer: I assume no responsibility if you muck it up.

Remove the two screws from the bottom of the winder lever handle, lift off the plastic and metal cover. Remove the keeper from the top of the winder arm shaft and remove the tensioning washer and winder arm. There’s a barrel shaped ketch on the shaft below the winder arm, it looks like a bushing with notches on each side, lift this off of the shaft. Note: in general it’s a good idea to arrange these small parts in the order they come off or take photos as you go so you can get it back right. Next take note of the current settings of the dial or just set it to AE and iso 200 (it will help when you put it back together). Remove the collar nut around the shutter button. The button has a spring below it so release the nut slowly. Remove the collar nut the shutter button, spring and shutter button keeper (the keeper looks like a washer with two ears on it), it keeps the shutter button from turning when you screw accessories in to the top of the button. Next remove the push rod, note the direction it goes in (the collar on the push rod goes up). There’s a small push rod spring in the shaft below the push rod but mine stayed in place so I did not have to deal with it. With the shutter button out of the way you’ll see another collar nut, this one requires a pin spanner to remove (or I just pushed on the edge of the pin hole and it came loose) after you get this loose lift off the dial. Now facing the front of the camera remove the left side rubber grip (it has double sided tape holding it on). Under the grip is a metal plate, it’s held in place with 3 small screws, remove the screws and plate. Now remove the two upper ribbon cables the left one pulls straight out of the connector (no keeper) the right one is behind another ribbon cable and does have a keeper. The keepers for this cable are on the sides of the connector (they’re brown) push straight up on the keepers, work side to side as required (they move up about 1mm) Now you can lift the ribbon cable out of the connector. Set the frame line switch to 50 (or whatever just so you remember which setting it was on). The last step is to remove the 5 black top plate retaining screws. There’s one above the display on the back of the camera, one on each side of the camera (you already have the left side grip off so you’ll see the left side screw). The right side screw is behind the right grip, you don’t have to remove the grip just pull it loose in the upper side corner. Also pull the right side grip loose along the top edge as it my be stuck to the top plate. The other two screws are on either side of the lens mount. You should now be able to lift the top plate off.

A couple of things to look for when replacing the top plate: The frame line switch should be in the same position as when you took it off. If fits into a slot to drive the frame line linkage so when you have the top plate back on just make sure the frame lines work before you screw down the top plate. The other thing to watch is a small bushing behind the right side screw above the lens mount. It stays with the top plate (its not loose) but can get cocked when remounting the top plate so just watch it.

This all sounds a bit complicated but once you know how this all works the top plate can be removed in 5 minutes. Good luck !

[jlw]

Thanks for this nice clear photo and summary. I'll have to archive it in case I ever need to tweak my R-D 1's RF again.

Question: After you dissolved the sealer so you could move the adjusting screws, did you re-seal them?

Another question: You mention that removing the top cover is probably beyond the range of the casual tinkerer, but any tips for those of us who do have some camera-disassembly experience?

[tmessenger]

Yes it would be a good idea to save the photo as I may not leave it on my server. I did re-seal the screws with a little lacqure but they have quite a bit of friction on them and should not be necessary. The vertical screw can't be re-sealed with the top on anyway. I'll write something up on top plate removal for the more adventuresome. It's not really that difficult once you know how it comes off just have to keep track of some small parts.

Tim

[rxmd]

Can you instead attach the images to the post as attachments?

And can we have this stickied?

Philipp

[gdi]

Tim, did you document removal of the top plate? I have seen some pictures of it removed, but not the process of getting there.

Thanks
Gary

[Adam-T]

*** FANTASTIC *** . I sent mine back to Epson UK because of Rear focussing, it went off to Paris and came back yesterday, now it was FRONT Focussing by a MILE - not suprising it`s out as the camera came back in a box not much bigger than the body with foam around it ! ...

Anyway, I could see that they can`t have removed the top as the screws weren`t showing any sign of being touched (they always do, even Nikon ones) so after reading the post here took the shoe off and had a look at the Horizontal (front/rear focus) screw and it would seem that all Epson Paris has done is poked a driver in there and gave it a tweak - of course there is no gunk on the screw now as they thankfully didn`t dribble any in there so it adjusted easily and the camera is now OK (at close range anyway, I`ll try it at infinity tomorrow when its light, as it was the RF patch was giving the impression that the lens was focussing way past infinity..

My guess is that Lazy Epson Paris,MAY have set it up perfectly but as they 1:- did it through the shoe so couldn`t put any more gunk on the screw and 2:- sent it back in a box about 2" square bigger than the camera itself , it got knocked off Kilter on the way back.....

Just proves that whose who innovate sometimes shouldn`t market - I`d not want tp see Hewlett Packard trying to setup a fuel injection system should they make a car in joint venture with Kawasaki (who don`t make cars - like CV don`t make Digital)

[tmessenger]

Hi Adam the #2 screw is for horizontal adjustment, get this one right on and you'll have it made. Best to find a vertical pole or something like that in the distance to line up on.

Regards,

Tim

[Adam-T]

Thanks Tim, I`ve set it up indoors across a room and it`s not heavily front focussing like it was, I`ll test it outside when it gets light today, i`ve left the hotshoe off..

To be honest, it was worth the trip back to Paris to get them to break the gunk on the screw (if they messed it up through the shoe then they`d have to have removed the top, something I DIDN`T want to do), so I can adjust mine at will now

Yours is the first set of instructions which says "Screw 1 = Patch sharpness, 2 = Front/Rear Focussing, 3 = patch height" etc - the rest of them waffle on about screws 1 and 2 being close focus and infinity which was hard to believe as Something has to just move the patch left and right (#2 - THANKS !!) - one to adjust the base length can`t really be that close to the rest as your text says . thanks for all this .

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Adam-T

Thanks Tim, I`ve set it up indoors across a room and it`s not heavily front focussing like it was, I`ll test it outside when it gets light today, i`ve left the hotshoe off..

You don't need daylight for that, you can align the RF on a starlit sky if you have a tripod (in fact, it works without a tripod, too, it's just more hassle).

It doesn't get much closer to infinity than that.

Philipp

[Adam-T]

Well, I tested it at longer distances and that quick tweak of Screw-2 did the trick, bang on at F1.5 with the Nokton ...... the Shoe cover thing comes off pretty easily using a pin under the edge at the back.

Thankfully the RF base is OK as that would mean a stripdown and I really didn`t want to do that (even though I`ve successfully had a Nikon D100 in its component parts to replace a shutter) - Thanks to a combination of Tim`s no nonsense instructions and Epson being too lazy to put more gunk on the screw, I can keep my RD1 in adjustment myself now

[LCT]

Originally Posted by Adam-T

...I sent mine back to Epson UK because of Rear focussing, it went off to Paris and came back yesterday, now it was FRONT Focussing by a MILE - not suprising it's out as the camera came back in a box not much bigger than the body with foam around it ! ... Just proves that whose who innovate sometimes shouldn't market...

All EU repairs seem to be done by Epson Engineering at Créteil near Paris.
They did a perfect job for my R-D1s even if they scratched a bit the black paint when they removed the top of the camera.
My experience is interesting because i asked my seller to check the RF alignment before shipping. I'm sure he did it but the misalignment was obvious when i received the camera, hence it occurred during handling or transportation (in a normal box btw ;-).
This just proves that Cosina in not competent enough to build rangefinders as solid as those of Leica IMHO.

[Adam-T]

They didn`t remove the top panel of mine thankfully and left me with a nice adjustable Horizontal focussing screw with the Gunk removed The paint on the RD1 isn`t very tough, neither is the coating on the perspex LCD cover, the loan cam from Epson is quite a mess - though like the Nikon D1X, the LCD coating can be removed with Silvo metal polish I guess to make the LCD perspex look like new again and the coating didn`t do much on the D1X - I`ll put a film type screen cover on my R-D1 in any case as it`s perfect

Even Leicas can suffer misalignment by being knocked and the Russian cams certainly can, this is one of those areas where SLRs are far tougher.

[LCT]

None of my M bodies have had problems like that, even 40 and 30 yo M3 and M4-2, but i do agree with your comparison to Russian bodies.
Pity that the price is not the same though...

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by LCT

This just proves that Cosina in not competent enough to build rangefinders as solid as those of Leica IMHO.

Actually it appears more like an Epson-related problem than a Cosina-related one. You don't hear of quite as many alignment problems with Cosina-branded cameras than with R-D1s, in spite of many more Bessas being sold than digital Epsons. Maybe Epson does/did the final montage and quality control.

Leica RFs, like any beamsplitter-plus-mirror-based rangefinder, will go out of alignment, too. It's independent of age. If you want a bump-proof rangefinder, get a Contax II/III (without "a") or a Kiev.

Philipp

[Bob Parsons]

Originally Posted by Adam-T

(snip)The paint on the RD1 isn`t very tough, neither is the coating on the perspex LCD cover, the loan cam from Epson is quite a mess - though like the Nikon D1X, the LCD coating can be removed with Silvo metal polish I guess to make the LCD perspex look like new again and the coating didn`t do much on the D1X - I`ll put a film type screen cover on my R-D1 in any case as it`s perfect
(snip)

I think you'll find the anti-reflective coating of the Epson screen is a thin sheet that's stuck on. If you look carefully at the screen edges you can see the outline of the edge of the sheet. I have read somewhere that Epson did supply someone with a replacement for a damaged sheet.

The anti-reflective coating is easily scratched and wears off. I didn't remove the sheet but stuck a protector from www.screenpatronus.com on top. They make one specifically for the R-D1. I find it excellent, very clear and hard wearing. It makes the scratches on the screen coating underneath invisible.

Bob.

[Adam-T]

Ahh, hadn`t noticed that - I just thought it must have been a coating like the D1X

I`ve handled 5 Bessas and only two of them had the RF patch properly aligned vertically, dunno about accuracy though as I didn`t put a film through them .. I guess more of a fuss would be made about this with the RD1 as it was a £2000 Digital camera and not a £200 Film body,,

Agree about the Contax and Kiev cameras, shame they use "Alien" lenses . I guess Solidity is what you get for having the focussing helix on the camera and not on the lens.

[LCT]

Originally Posted by rxmd

...You don't hear of quite as many alignment problems with Cosina-branded cameras...Maybe Epson does/did the final montage and quality control...

Are you sure?
I've heard of similar problems with Bessas as well and i thought it was Cosina who did the montage...
Am i missing something?

[jvr]

Thank you very much for your explanation! My RD-1s suffered a floor bump and the RF got misaligned vertically and (worse!) horizontaly too. I was able to fix the horizontal aligment (and that's the more important one, as it was backfocusing) with your schema and photos (I was surprised by the very small amount I had to turn screw #2 to get inifity alignment again, and it was noticeable!).

The not so good news is that vertically I'm not able to do anything: the patch is above the main image, so I should turn the #3 screw clockwise (for what I read in another thread). The screw can be only be turned some 20 degrees from it's "normal" position but it has no efect on the patch's vertical alignment... :-( Even if I turn it counterclockwise, again nothing changes.

Moreover, when I turn it counterclockwise, it becomes very "light" (almost as it's about to come out from the thread). It does not feel "springy" at all (or connected to something), as the #2 screw.

Could it be that the bump somehow disconnected #3 screw from the RF mechanism? :-(

Anyway, the RF is accurante again, at least on vertical lines! Now I feel like I'm using a SLR with a horizontal split-prism focusing screen, looking for vertical lines to focus on... :-)

Any suggestion is welcome...

[tmessenger]

Hello jvr the #3 vertical screw is fixed by bent metal it's not a machined tapped fitting. If it was gummed up with sealing compound it may have loosened around the screw when you tried to adjust it. This could probably be fixed without much trouble but the top plate would have to come off.

Tim

[jlw]

Originally Posted by LCT

Are you sure?
I've heard of similar problems with Bessas as well and i thought it was Cosina who did the montage...
Am i missing something?

What was posted here around the time of the camera's introduction was that Cosina assembled the mechanics (chassis, shutter, and RF) and that these assemblies then went off to Epson for installation of the sensor and electronics.

Speculation then was that the cameras presumably were leaving Cosina with correctly-aligned rangefinders, but that in some cases the adjustments were being disturbed by Epson's subsequent installations and that Epson, not being so familiar with camera optics, didn't realize their assembly steps could be affecting this.

Of course, this was still all speculation, but at least it's "in-period" speculation rather than after-the-fact speculation!

[RichC]

Tim you said you'd post instructions on how to remove the top plate: are you still willing to do this?

I'd be really in your debt if would...

[Bob Parsons]

Originally Posted by RichC

Tim you said you'd post instructions on how to remove the top plate: are you still willing to do this?

I'd be really in your debt if would...

I'd also like to know how to do this. Knowing where the retaining screws are under the covers would prevent trial and error. My rangefinder is slightly out when close focusing and it would be useful to be able to correct this once the camera is out of warranty.

Bob.

[ZorkiKat]

Originally Posted by LCT

None of my M bodies have had problems like that, even 40 and 30 yo M3 and M4-2, but i do agree with your comparison to Russian bodies.
Pity that the price is not the same though...

Maybe the "R" in R-D1 also stands for "Russian"?

[LCT]

Originally Posted by jvr

...vertically I'm not able to do anything: the patch is above the main image, so I should turn the #3 screw clockwise (for what I read in another thread). The screw can be only be turned some 20 degrees from it's "normal" position but it has no efect on the patch's vertical alignment... Could it be that the bump somehow disconnected #3 screw from the RF mechanism?...

I don't know sorry and i hope you find a solution ASAP but your experience confirms what i said i'm afraid.
The R-D1s is not the same camera as the R-D1 as far as RF is concerned. I can easily adjust vertical alignments with the R-D1 but i cannot do it with the R-D1s so that i've had to send it in to Epson under warranty.
Quite a serious issue IMO as i'm pretty sure i will experience new misalignments in the future given the poor quality of this otherwise great rangefinder.
Anyway if you hesitate between the R-D1 and the R-D1s, instead of buying both like truly yours, take the R-D1 folks and do the firmware update if it suits you.

[tmessenger]

Yes I'll get to it this week, sorry for the delay.

Tim

Originally Posted by RichC

Tim you said you'd post instructions on how to remove the top plate: are you still willing to do this?

I'd be really in your debt if would...