One simple problem that I have seen with many rangefinders is that the cam arm in the throat of the body doesn't move all the way out with the lens every time. The lubricants stiffen with age or the springs weaken and it gets a bit sticky. This is seen as a problem with close focussing as that is the extreme position for the arm and roller - usually they are pushed well in unless the lens is removed altogether and they spend much less time in the full out position. Most of the lense barrel movement is in the last few feet of close focus. It's impossible to check this visually with a screw mount Leica I suspect as you can't inspect from the rear with the shutter open.
It is possible to give it a little exercise with a gentl finger, pushing it in and pulling it right out to make sure that it has reached the forward stop on its own. Pull it out to the stop if necessary. Then mount the lens which you've preset to 1 metre. Check the focus at 1m to see if it's on focus. If not, it needs adjusting.
If it is, then focus to infinity and come straight back to 1m. If it now no longer focuses or you have to wait for it to creep in, then the rangefinder mechanism is sticky, either in the arm linkage or in the viewfinder mechanisms. I fixed an old fixed lens Petri Racer the other day where the rangefinder patch took several seconds to catch up with the lens. That required cleaning and relube under the top plate so that the rangefinder mirror could move freely again.
AndrewF
I do not know if it is normal for a Leica but I own a new Voigtlander (Cosina) 21mm Color-Skopar screw mount which does exactly that - the rangefinder does not couple for the last meter or so of close-up range. I suspect it was a manufacturing compromise based on the fact that one does not use close up much on a wide angle lens (esp. 21mm!) and they simply couldn't design enough reach into the barrel - bothered me when I first discovered the problem though, thinking I had a faulty example.
AndrewF
I've been playing with a Leica IIIf recently and I noticed that the focusing scale on the 35mm Summaron goes down to 1 meter but the rangefinder doesn't seem to operate at distances closer than approximately 2 meters. I removed the lens and sure enough, the part of the lens that actuates the rangefinder doesn't extend far enough into the camera body at close distances to activate the rangefinder.
I have almost no experience using rangefinder cameras and I'm wondering if this is normal for a Leica? Is it normal for all rangefinders with removable lenses? Is something really out of whack with my little slice of German heaven?
Greg Fraser
