Help needed with Tessar 50/3.5 for Exakta VX.

[leica M2 fan]

When I focus on a pole outside my window even at infinity the split image is not together, not focusing. If I look at another pole farther away which I use to calibrate distance on my RF's it's even more off ! Any thoughts? Any solutions?
Thanks.

[David Murphy]

Is the image in focus to your eye?

[leica M2 fan]

It looks in focus on fresnel screen but the split images don't line up. I was wondering if there is such a thing as viewfinder calibration like on RF's ? I unscrewed the lens to apply light coat of lithium grease since it was very tight focusing and maybe that has something to do with the alignment being off.

[ZeissFan]

OK, here are some thoughts on this:

-- Has the lens been serviced? It's possible that it was incorrectly reassembled. That is easily fixed but requires disassembly of the lens.

-- Is the lens collimated? At the least, infinity focus should be checked with the lens set to infinity, with the shutter open and a piece of ground glass on the film plane. You can also you some frosted tape. Use a loupe or another lens to check focus.

-- With some German cameras, you adjust infinity focus in the viewfinder by altering the angle of the mirror. But I just checked, and this doesn't appear to be the case with Exaktas.

-- Check to see that the viewfinder is fully seated.

But if that were my camera, I would start with the viewfinder, then check infinity focus at the film plane.

[leica M2 fan]

I will follow up on this , I was looking forward to this lens. I know what it can do. Thanks so much.

[leica M2 fan]

I kept working with this lens until I was able to "seat" the lens at entry and when I checked it out it now focuses to infinity and also close up. Thanks very much for all the input, several lessons learned here. BTW, tested a roll of 12 exposure Superia and the color and sharpness I got is unbelievable. Thanks again.