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camz · Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Southern CA

Does anyone have any experience with accessory rangefinders? I need one that would work well
for short distances, 4 - 10 feet.

scottkathe · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Vermont, USA

I see no one has replied for a while so I'll give it a shot. I don't know what your subject is but you might be able to use a regular tape measure at that distance, nice, simple and cheap. Another idea that I was toying with when using zone focusing and a Kodak Retina IIc that belonged to my dad was to get the distance using one of those electronic tape measures. I received it as a gift and it is pretty accurate.

vic valis · Joined: 21 Nov 2001 Posts: 247 Location: San Francisco

Well along these same lines, I have a camera with the accessory rangefinder (the type with the arm that reaches around the front of the camera and fits between the lid and the body)and was wondering if anyone knew how these were supposed to work. I understand the theory, but it looks like the hardware attaches to the outsode rail, fixed to the drop front. I know the rangefinder I have is not working (no double image) but have a functiong replacement. However, I still don't understand just what makes that reach-around arm move, or how it could be accurate. If someone could enlighten me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

jeff

_________________
That money talks,
I'll not deny.
I heard it once;
It said "good-bye."

vic valis · Joined: 21 Nov 2001 Posts: 247 Location: San Francisco

Okay, so it looksl ike the rangefinder is the Kalart RF model K (turns out I have an ad for it amid my junk) and that there is a linkage to the inside focusing rail. There's a beautiful pre-anny ******* on everyone's favorite auction site with images of this linkage, though they are not clear. I'm hoping the seller will take better images so I can fabricate this part. Looks like it works the way I thought, that the sprung arm attached to the outer rail on the bed is constantly pulling the arm out, and that there is a linkage either attached to the focusing rail or else set behind it withmoves the arm in or out depending on how the camera is focused.

jeff

_________________
That money talks,
I'll not deny.
I heard it once;
It said "good-bye."