Snap Shots Ep 10 - Calibrating Your Rangefinder (Canon 7)

Welcome to Snap Shots! A new video series with tips and information for beginners. This week we discuss calibrating you Rangefinder camera and show you how to do it on the Canon 7!
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Guy Crofts - / guy_crofts
Josh:
Portraits -
/ jophotography77
Street Photography -
/ joshochoa77
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Facebook:
/ framespersecond77
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Logo by Shaman Grayson: / shamanshorelines
Title Sequence by George Brown: / rustyrbrown
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Music:
Strange Clouds by Prigida
Violet Sunrise by Mike Cosmo
Probe by Prigida

[@mnickdell8104]

i love your t-shirt (after 2:48) mate! :) makes perfect sense especially these days !

[@randallstewart175]

While I appreciate a video showing the adjustment process, rarely if ever demonstrated elsewhere, I'll raise a big caution or objection to one of the themes stated. specifically, the "expert" states that you need to re calibrate your rangefinder every time you change a lens. At face value, for these interchangeable lens bodies, that is ridiculous. Once the rangefinder is properly calibrated for any (Good) lens, it should be in calibration for all such lenses unless its parts are physically damaged. If your Canon 7 is calibrated for a good Canon lens, it will work without re calibration with other LTM lenses, unless the rangefinder cam on the lens itself is bad. A cam on a lens may be bad because the lens was poorly assembled or damaged. If you calibrate the body for the damaged lens, then all other properly made LTM lenses will not work properly. If you engaged in an idiotic process of re calibrating your rangefinder each time you changed a lens, within a short time, two events would occur: (1) you will loose one of the port cover caps, which you will never replace, and (2) since the adjustments to calibration retain their settings by friction, all of the fiddling with them will loosen them to the point where the rangefinder slips out of calibration after a short amount of knocking around. Solution: if you have a lens with a bad rangefinder cam, get rid of the lens, don't destroy your camera body.

[@PinesProductions]

This is great extra info thank you! The reason I said that was that I had found that going between Soviet made LTM lenses and Canon made ones would cause it to go out of calibration. I think I’ll just use one or the other from now on 👍🏻.

[@loulou704]

This is accurate in regards to canon lenses. but the issue is some lenses in the l39 mount were not made by the canon or leica standard. Alot of them were made with the intention of being used on other brand bodies such as contax and will require them to be shimmed or your range finder to be recalibrated. I hear this is a common problem for alot of the helios lenses as well.

[@randallstewart175]

@@loulou704 I have no personal experience with Russian of other lens sources making lenses to the Leica thread mount specification, but with a non-Leica cam specification. Frankly, that seems very unlikely. In any event, it seems fundamental that the idea of using a L39 thread mount lens on a Leica, Canon, or the dozens of copies thereof, knowing that the lens is not cammed for the rangefinder seem just plain stupid.

[@segzeeman7356]

Wow! Thank you! Thank you! For this video. This was very helpful! Thank you.

[@edinburghtumuran916]

So useful. I will be calibrating my Canon 7 and your video will be handy! Many thanks!

[@loulou704]

Please use a tripod!!!!! This will help greatly and provide a more accurate adjustment

[@SeriinHD]

Thank you so much, very helpful

[@mgman6000]

Wouldn't f8 just make any error that isn't too much be compensated for?

[@aliidrissi-sbai808]

Very informative thank you

[@kevinbrown5093]

a tripod would be nice ...

[@ivanwilliam88]

Just the video I'm looking for, thanks a lot. Just bought a Canon & a realize when at infinity the focus patch is not aligned

[@ductritran8637]

Thanks for showing us how to calibrate ours canon 7 film camera

[@kskskskkskskkssks]

After vertical calibration, the vertical alignment goes off once I turn the lens out of infinity, any fix for it?

[@kalenderquantentunnel9411]

You have to set a standard first or you end up in complete chaos when you have more than just a single lens a body. For instance a lens of known top-notch condition which works flawless on a camera of known condition. Take that lens and calibrate your second camera to it. If you now come across a lens which doesn't focus correctly on both cameras it is either off in flange-distance or focal length (all russian LTM-lenses). But in both cases it is the lens that has to be calibrated either by shimming the lens to its helical or inside the optics between frontgroup and backgroup of the lens. Canon and Leica cameras and bodies should be 100% interchangeable with the same calibration btw. if both are still in spec. It's the russians which differ a hair in focal length for nominal "50 mm" and need recalibration... of the lens, not the camera! NEVER recalibrate a western camera based on an unmodfied russian lens or you it will be off with all lenses made for it.

[@rlk2140]

Not sure what I should be seeing and doing to actually calibrate. When at infinity should I only see one image? If I see a double image at infinity do I turn the screw or screws as needed so that I then see only one image, at which point the range finder is now calibrated?

[@FramesPerSecond]

Yes!

[@randallstewart175]

Yeh, the overall clarity of the process as described could be better. The idea of the rangefinder is that when the two images exactly overlap (becoming one image), then whatever the rangefinder patch is pointing at will be in focus. with that understanding, then you answer your own question.

[@alfachraz]

Hry great video! Have you got the results yet?