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Super Graphic rangefinder question
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AuthorMessage
ksmattfish
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:21 pm

I want to use a 150mm lens, but I have the 135mm cam. Instead of changing cams, could I remake the rangefinder focusing scale to work with the longer lens? I was thinking about cutting a piece of tape to cover the old scale, and then taking the camera out and use the GG to figure out the new scale, and write it on the tape. Does this make any sense?

glennfromwy
Joined: 29 Nov 2001
Posts: 903
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:10 am

You mean the focus scale on the bed? Yeah sure, that makes sense. A lot of us do it all the time. If you want to get fancy, you can set it up with both scales. It's not hard to do.
ksmattfish
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 2:24 am

I mean the semi-circle focus scale on the top of the Super Graphic with the little red arrow. My Super Graphic doesn't have a focus scale on the bed, but I did change the one on my Anniversary Graphic in the past.

After I posted this message I taped over the scale, and went out in my back yard to do some focusing. I reset the infinty stops so they matched the scale, and then went from there marking various distances. It worked pretty well. I came back inside and did some tests on Polaroid and was having really good luck even at distances as close as 4.5 feet.

45PSS
Joined: 28 Sep 2001
Posts: 4081
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 4:26 am

The dial/scale on the top of the Super's is a Flash caculator. The surface of the cam that the follower arm,which moves the scale pointer, is not linear; from high point to low point is not a straight line but an arced one. Some minor to major errors may occur.
Try copying the cam on the track,high,and low sides and make the focusing face a straight line to get a more linear responce of the indicator resulting in a more accurate scale. If some distances are too close together then increasing the slope of the face of the cam should result in greater movement of the pointer.
Charles
glennfromwy
Joined: 29 Nov 2001
Posts: 903
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 4:42 pm

Hmmm -- that's what I get for not owning a Super.
ksmattfish
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:16 pm

Well, I've tested it at a range of camera to subject distances at F/5.6, and my new scale seems to be spot on. I'm going to work on fabricating a new cam, but this seems to work in the meantime.
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