Kalart Rangefinder fine tunning adjustments ???

[Miguel Coquis]

Trying to align a fast Zeiss barrel 165 mm f:2,7 with Kalart Range Finder on a 4x5 speed graphic camera.
I have follow as indicated on Graflex instructions and I can only adjust for infinity and long distances. Near distances (4 and 8 ft.) do not match. When the adjustment is done for near distances, the long distances will fail.
Any suggestions will be much appreciate.
Thanks in advance for your contribution.

[Kevin Crisp]

Sometimes you have to go through the adjustment process several times as a way of fine tuning. I've had the best luck when the infinity adjustment is adjusted so that pulling the lens out to the position of the stops, with the rack still all the way racked in, gives you infinity. Also, obviously, this makes the camera instantaneously usable after opening if the subject is at infinity. Somebody who used one day in day out in the 1950's showed me this, it is not in the instructions.

It is tempting to ignore the parallax correcting part of the instructions, where you put a mark on the wall at a certain height. Don't skip that part.

Finally, if all else fails, use the bed scale or if not so equipped, write down the position of 6' and 8'. You might try asking your question at the Graflex.org website.

[Miguel Coquis]

Thanks Kevin, I have gone through the process several times and now I am trying to cross the variants...
After observing different lens cams I deduce that it is maybe the fact of dealing with a fast lens that difficult the adjustment..., I imagine that adjusting Kalart is like putting the right cam for a given lens.

[Kevin Crisp]

Time out. Are we talking about the side mounted Kalart rangefinder? Because it doesn't use cams. If you have the top mounted later type of rangefinder (which isn't generally referred to as a Kalart, though I don't know who made it) then you need the right cam for it to work and it has to really match the lens or error will show up very readily at the closer distances. There are articles on the web about making your own cams for those or you might try contacting Fred Lustig in Nevada who might have the part you need.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

It takes a number of iterations of adjustment until both 4', 15' and infinity are all agreement with the GG focus.

FWIW, Kalart adjustments really goes much faster by shining a laser pointer through the Kalart eyepiece while you're doing them.

[Bill_1856]

If you have the side-mounted Kaalart rangefinder and are having difficulty getting it to synchronize with your lens except at distances, you should consider the possibilities that either a) you do not know what you're doing, or b) it is broken.

[Miguel Coquis]

... would not give up !
Does the side Kalart range finder can accommodate any lens ? Is it the same adjustment for two lenses of same focal length and different aperture ?
(Example: two 165 mm lenses, one is a f:2,7 and the other is a f:4,5)
Thanks for your advise, specially if you have already done this at list one time by your self.

[Kevin Crisp]

Miguel: According to the manual, adjustment for a 165mm lens should be possible, though not for lenses that are longer. Have your tried setting infinity as I suggested, then going through the steps again?

[Miguel Coquis]

Miguel: According to the manual, adjustment for a 165mm lens should be possible, though not for lenses that are longer. Have your tried setting infinity as I suggested, then going through the steps again?

Yes Kevin,
Adjustment is Ok now for short distances.
For the rest the GG will be used.
Thanks for your help.

[Kevin Crisp]

Well, you're probably not going to be hand holding shots with a 165mm lens at 8' anyway. Have fun with it. Great cameras.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

It's not about handholding so much as it is about rapid focus acquisition for razor thin DOF portraiture, a pretty common Speed Graphic question since David Burnett did this for the Kerry campaign. It's certainly quite possible to calibrate a Kalart Synchronized Rangefinder for this degree of precision. Suggest you go read Joe Lommen's pages re adjusting one for use with an Aero Ektar:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lommen9

Even with everything working as it should, getting the final RF adjustments to correlate with GG focus at all distances is very much a process of elimination, going back and forth between the three or more adjustments numerous times. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance, perhaps an hour or two until it's dialed in (the laser pointer can be a real time saver!).

In 50 plus years Kalarts can also get corroded thus sticky and inconsistent. Too, the mirrors dull over time. Either problem will make the adjustment process very frustrating. You may have to take it apart to polish the internal cams and lube the cam followers (yes, for the side-mounts; I'm not confusing the swappable focal length cams of the top mounts).

Recently went through the mirror replacement and calibration routine with one of my cameras having a side-mounted Kalart. The adjustments are fussy-- so fussy that further drying and shrinking Duco Cement (beyond 24 hours) on a newly installed piece of front-surface mirror tweaked my initial settings for the prism adjusting screw. Absolutely can't be any motion in the adjuster arm collar (I ground a flat for the setscrew on the Kalart output shaft with a Dremel tool).

[Miguel Coquis]

Ivan, I have not give up.
My intention is to continue until a can get a real fine tunning. This combination, 4x5 Speed with the 165 mm f:2,7 is giving great pictures. I can not get adjustment for all distances for the moment.
Can you tell more about: "the laser pointer can be a real time saver!" ?
and:... "I ground a flat for the setscrew on the Kalart output shaft with a Dremel tool" ?
My fear when dismounting the Kalart is not to restore it as it should.... but I am gona try anyway.
Thanks a lot for your message.

[Frank Petronio]

I never could get the darn things adjusted critically enough for close wide-open portraiture and gave up. Just getting the 135/4.7 to work was hard enough, my Aero-Ektar was never reliable enough to focus even after SK Grimes did it.

So good luck!

[Miguel Coquis]

I never could get the darn things adjusted critically enough for close wide-open portraiture and gave up. Just getting the 135/4.7 to work was hard enough, my Aero-Ektar was never reliable enough to focus even after SK Grimes did it.

So good luck!

Thanks Frank !
I know is a pain in the a'
but when it works, is glory...

[Curt]

I have the side mount for my Busch C and it is right on with the original 101mm lens. I've wanted to change the lens sometimes but going through the adjustments is tedious and I was always afraid I'd not be able to get it back to the original lens which is right on. I wish they had cams but that's the way it is. There is a light in the focuser for use in dark lighting on mine.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Miguel, at the point of making those fine adjustments, you can project the beam of a laser pointer through mirror onto your calibration subject instead of reassembling the cover to look through the eyepiece. What the laser-through-RF does is project two very fine bright points that come together into one bright dot at the rangefinder focusing point as the lens focus is adjusted.

Still have to focus critically with the ground glass on a sufficiently contrasty subject to calibrate the system, but I nevertheless find it quite a bit easier to use the laser pointer while actually making the tiny little nudges to the RF adjustment scales, giving instant feedback, rather than having to slip the loose housing back on to look through it visually to check the split image only remove it again to adjust, etc.

If you do take the Kalart completely off and apart to clean it the biggest challenge--at least it was for me with a Meridian camera that uses a rangefinder lever arm with a setscrew collar-- was getting the collar reassembled and tightened back in the correct infinity position. The flat on the shaft RF input shaft was intended to make that repeatable and so that the setscrew would not slip. I happened to have a Dremel so it was what I used for grinding the little flat on the shaft but a file would work almost as well.

[ethics_gradient]

It took me 3-4 hours over two afternoons to get my Aero Ektar calibrated with my Speed Graphic, but I'm glad that I took the time. As others have said, it's trial and error. There's also a small screw under the lower mirror/prism thing that can be adjusted, in addition to the eccentric screw (how I learned to hate that thing) and the mid-range stops.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4588447757_97bbe2ed55_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chadcullen/4588447757/in/set-72157624013161337/)

Composition is still a little touch-and-go at this point, but I've only put a couple dozen sheets through it so far. One thing I've found I have to be careful of is mounting and re-mounting the lens - I store it separately from the camera in the bag (won't close with it mounted) and I need to be sure that the lens hasn't gotten screwed in to the lensboard any more or less than what I set my Speed up for. It's a small thing, but it throws off infinity focus, and everything else throughout the range. I always double-check infinity on the GG when I put the camera together to start shooting, just to be safe.

[Miguel Coquis]

[QUOTE=ethics_gradient;593213]It took me 3-4 hours over two afternoons to get my Aero Ektar calibrated with my Speed Graphic, but I'm glad that I took the time. As others have said, it's trial and error. There's also a small screw under the lower mirror/prism thing that can be adjusted, in addition to the eccentric screw (how I learned to hate that thing) and the mid-range stops.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4588447757_97bbe2ed55_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chadcullen/4588447757/in/set-72157624013161337/)

Hi, really amazing shot !!!
Hope I will be able to start with mine soon.
Thanks for your contribution.

[Miguel Coquis]

Finally, Kalart was taken off...


http://macoquis.caraldi.com/scaled/Data/SAL%20002.jpg
Focusing will be done over the ground glass but I will be looking forward to find a modern range finder that can complete my Speed/Aeo/Linhof project.
Kalart, even when it "works" it is a little bit an archaic instrument.