Horseman 980 questions

[john wilton]

Am considering a Horseman 980, which sounds good but I'm told the infinity stops need to be adjusted. I'm familiar with setting up the RF for infinity on a Speed Graphic...set the distance pointer on the bed to infinity, then set the infinity stops while looking at the groundglass at distant target, then adjusting the eccentric screw in the linkage to bring the RF into coincidence if necessary. How is this third step done with a Horseman? The lens has its proper cam. Didn't find a mention of this in the VH-R manual, or could find anything by googling. I expect it is simple, as it would have arisen anytime a new lens was purchased.

[Oren Grad]

If you have a Horseman that's still set up as it was at the factory, and if the rangefinder mechanism is still in good adjustment, you shouldn't have to adjust anything - install the cam, flip up the pair of pre-installed infinity stops that's color-coded to match the cam, and you're done.

If the pre-installed stops are missing or have been moved, you have to reset a pair in the same way as you would with any other camera, checking against the ground glass.

The RF mechanism itself is not meant to be adjusted by the end user - that's what the cam is for, to change the slope of the rangefinder travel to correspond to each lens. If the RF isn't aligned properly when the correct cam is installed and the infinity stop is properly set, opening the camera to fix it is a job for a repair shop. I've never seen any documentation of how to do it, though I suppose if there's a repair manual floating around somewhere, there will be users who are adventurous enough to open the camera and try it themselves. But it's not like the Kalart RF on a Graphic, where the user was expected to do it and the necessary documentation was provided.

[ic-racer]

Yes, use the ground glass to focus at a distant object and set the infinity stops. If I have any room for error I make it away from the film plane, as my film never bulges backward (but can frequently bulge forward).

If your rangefinder images superimposed at infinity then you should not need any other adjustment. There is a hole (covered by decorative covering) to access the adjusting screw in the lower right corner looking from the back. You can see the end of the screw if you closely examine the mechanism in the lower left from the front.

Also, realize that some of the infinity stops are shared by two lenses of different focal length. Also, realize that they made two different series of lens boards, so the infinity stops can only 'share' between two lenses with the same series lensboard. (did that make sense??:))

So the closest stop is for both the 75 and 65 lenses. But these came on gray or black boards. The two on gray boards can share, and the two on black boards can share, but the gray one can't share with the black one (and there is not enough space in there for an additional infinity stop).

[Oren Grad]

There is a hole (covered by decorative covering) to access the adjusting screw in the lower right corner looking from the back. You can see the end of the screw if you closely examine the mechanism in the lower left from the front.

Is this specifically for the 980 (and perhaps other models with fixed backs)? On my VH-R with the four-post rotating back there isn't any apparent adjustment port, covered or otherwise. From the front I can see the entire coupling mechanism from the cam along the bottom and up the side of the body to the top of the camera, but there's nowhere that is obviously an adjustment point.

[ic-racer]

Is this specifically for the 980 (and perhaps other models with fixed backs)? On my VH-R with the four-post rotating back there isn't any apparent adjustment port, covered or otherwise. From the front I can see the entire coupling mechanism from the cam along the bottom and up the side of the body to the top of the camera, but there's nowhere that is obviously an adjustment point.

That is interesting. I was looking at my VH-R, I thought all of them had it!

[Oren Grad]

That is interesting. I was looking at my VH-R, I thought all of them had it!

Or else I'm just missing something that's right under my nose, which is entirely possible. It's not as if that hasn't happened many times before. :o

Is there any way you can photograph it to show specifically what you're referring to?

[ic-racer]

You may be able to feel the hole under the covering as indicated by the circle. From the front you can just see one or 2 millimeters of the small end of the screw where it passes through one of the mechanism.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ic-racer/VHR.jpg

[Oren Grad]

Thanks, that's very helpful. If I use my imagination, I can feel a small soft spot in that corner of the leatherette. Looking from the front of the camera, there's a horizontal screw, oriented back-to-front relative to the body, that appears to couple the horizontal arm from the cam follower to the vertical arm that transmits the movement up the side of the camera. Perhaps that coupling affects horizontal alignment? No matter how I contort the body and my face, though, I can't see into the body well enough to tell whether there really is a port in that corner of the body that aligns with the head of the screw.

Oh, well. If mine goes out of adjustment, now I have something specific I can investigate before deciding whether I need to send it off. Thanks!

Again, just to be clear for the OP, that sort of adjustment is for when the rangefinder goes out of whack. Bearing in mind your caveats about the different lens series with different mountings, with an original factory setup of matching infinity stops, cams and mounted Horseman-brand lenses, the user wasn't supposed to have to worry about this for routine lens changes.