In the same situation, I re-installed the focus ring/clamp assembly over the lens (installed in the camera. First I assembled the focus ring/infinity stop ring and the screws/clamping plate at the very start of their threads (ie very loosely) , placed it over the lens assembly in the barrel and then gently "worked" the clamps over the perimeter of the lens flange. The first two clamps were relatively easy , dropping into place but the third took some time wiggling and manipulating with tweezer points to get it to sit properly . It is obvious when they are correct because the focusing ring sits tightly to the lens flange and the perimeter of the focus ring is (obviously) parallel to the front of the camera. Not sure which method is faster.
Hi Chris, and thanks for your videos about Vito B. Mine has a problem with de diaphragm: the blades went crazy and I don´t know how to put all of tem in the right position. Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.
Well, I'll have to look through my Vito stuff and see if I have a suitable victim first. I see looking back at the video that was able to avoid having to completely reassemble the blades on this one, and was pleasantly relieved.
Use a ground-glass screen at the film plane and a loupe. A focus screen taken from an SLR with a split-image focus aid in the centre makes this task easier.
Have you ever seen on any camera like this the shutter speeds being all messed up. On my vito b 1/300th and 100th seem fine but down the dial it appears that 1/25th and 1 second are switched?? On 1/25th its for some reason doing 1 second instead. Has someone else messed with the mechanism perhaps?
@@ChrisSherlock I found this camera completely seized so I have opened it. I believe I found the issue, on the slow speeds component theres a little lever on the bottom part that moves when you move the shutter speed dial, I'm pretty sure someone at some point mangled it very badly. I couldn't get it to bend back properly so i bent it down to basically disable slow speeds entirely. Fair enough trade off since I don't really care about really slow speeds on a camera like this.
There are a couple of ways -both involve using a piece of ground glass or frosted tape/plastic placed on the film plane in the back of the camera and the camera body open. Method 1 is to set the shutter to "B", aperture wide open, with the lens focused at infinity and observe whether an object at "infinity" (the moon, for example, or a distant tower) appears in sharp focus on the ground glass (it will appear inverted). Method 2 uses an SLR with a telephoto lens focused to infinity set on table or tripod. You take the camera you wish to test (with the ground glass/frosted tape/plastic in place) , focussed at infinity and set at B ( wide open) and point the test camera lens at the end of the SLR telephoto lens. If the test camera lens is correctly set at infinity you should see a very crisp image of the SLR focusing screen (grid or fresnel/split image "edges") . The test camera lens infinity position can be adjusted (by moving the lens in or out on its' helix) until the image is as sharp as possible. Google "Collimating lens with SLR" for some additional descriptions. Method 2 assumes the SLR lens is properly focussed at infinity. Whatever error might exist in the SLR lens will be duplicated in the test camera. Whatever error exists is likely to be small with an SLR lens in good condition and is unlikely to make any practical difference with these zone focus cameras.
Excellent thanks for the video.
I just strugled with those little guys
In the same situation, I re-installed the focus ring/clamp assembly over the lens (installed in the camera. First I assembled the focus ring/infinity stop ring and the screws/clamping plate at the very start of their threads (ie very loosely) , placed it over the lens assembly in the barrel and then gently "worked" the clamps over the perimeter of the lens flange. The first two clamps were relatively easy , dropping into place but the third took some time wiggling and manipulating with tweezer points to get it to sit properly . It is obvious when they are correct because the focusing ring sits tightly to the lens flange and the perimeter of the focus ring is (obviously) parallel to the front of the camera. Not sure which method is faster.
Hi Chris, and thanks for your videos about Vito B. Mine has a problem with de diaphragm: the blades went crazy and I don´t know how to put all of tem in the right position. Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.
Well, I'll have to look through my Vito stuff and see if I have a suitable victim first. I see looking back at the video that was able to avoid having to completely reassemble the blades on this one, and was pleasantly relieved.
Chris -- When screwing in the lens assembly, you determined the "focus is correct @ infinity." How did you determine that? Thank you!
Use a ground-glass screen at the film plane and a loupe. A focus screen taken from an SLR with a split-image focus aid in the centre makes this task easier.
Have you ever seen on any camera like this the shutter speeds being all messed up. On my vito b 1/300th and 100th seem fine but down the dial it appears that 1/25th and 1 second are switched?? On 1/25th its for some reason doing 1 second instead. Has someone else messed with the mechanism perhaps?
Have you had the shutter apart and serviced it, or is this just the state the camera arrived in?
@@ChrisSherlock I found this camera completely seized so I have opened it. I believe I found the issue, on the slow speeds component theres a little lever on the bottom part that moves when you move the shutter speed dial, I'm pretty sure someone at some point mangled it very badly. I couldn't get it to bend back properly so i bent it down to basically disable slow speeds entirely. Fair enough trade off since I don't really care about really slow speeds on a camera like this.
How did you check focus????
There are a couple of ways -both involve using a piece of ground glass or frosted tape/plastic placed on the film plane in the back of the camera and the camera body open. Method 1 is to set the shutter to "B", aperture wide open, with the lens focused at infinity and observe whether an object at "infinity" (the moon, for example, or a distant tower) appears in sharp focus on the ground glass (it will appear inverted). Method 2 uses an SLR with a telephoto lens focused to infinity set on table or tripod. You take the camera you wish to test (with the ground glass/frosted tape/plastic in place) , focussed at infinity and set at B ( wide open) and point the test camera lens at the end of the SLR telephoto lens. If the test camera lens is correctly set at infinity you should see a very crisp image of the SLR focusing screen (grid or fresnel/split image "edges") . The test camera lens infinity position can be adjusted (by moving the lens in or out on its' helix) until the image is as sharp as possible. Google "Collimating lens with SLR" for some additional descriptions. Method 2 assumes the SLR lens is properly focussed at infinity. Whatever error might exist in the SLR lens will be duplicated in the test camera. Whatever error exists is likely to be small with an SLR lens in good condition and is unlikely to make any practical difference with these zone focus cameras.
Hmm 😒 I think my veto b is for the bin ..