Originally Posted by
toyotadesigner
Your Arca is the predecessor.
Start with a levelled rail by placing your camera with the rail onto a levelled granite kitchen top or by levelling the rail on a geared tripod head. Level the horizontal from front to back and left to right. Then check the verticals by placing your triangle onto the granite plate and against the standards on the right and left side, then to the front and back of the standard. Remove the bellows and one standard to check one single standard. Keep in mind that all parts are precision milled, the rail can not be bent. If the first standard is ok, check the second one. Then mount both standards, pull them apart as much as the rail allows. Move the standards (frames) up and place a long spirit level diagonally across the lower beams of the standard (frame base). That means from the right hand side of the base of the rear standard to the left hand side of the front standard. Then change sides. If there is a tiny deviation, don't worry. Your camera is in a top condition.
After you have checked the levels, check your bubble levels and place a small mark with a thin waterproof felt tip pen in the middle of the bubble levels. Even if they should be off, with your marks they will be spot on. Don't rely on the cold shoe level - these cheapos feature a large deviation, and the cold shoe is not as precise as the camera (because it does not have an optical function).
Next check: Mount the ground glass to the back, use a lens plate without a lens, tighten the standards on the rail and measure the distance from the front side of the lens plate to the ground glass with a calliper. Now insert a roll film back without film, remove the dark slide and measure again. As long as the difference is in the range of 1/10 of a millimeter (film thickness added), everything is ok.
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