Dear forum, I'm having a whale of a time trying to adjust the viewfinder lens to match the marked distances. I secure the camera to a level surface and place a magazine 2M from the camera's image plane. Once focused correctly through the viewfinder, and adjusted to match the corresponding distance on the lens ring, the camera won't focus at infinity.

Should I adjust the viewfinder lens to match 2M or infinity? I've not even started on the image-taking lenses yet.

Thanks
Richard

Richard,

I never really calibrated my viewfinder because I don't use it for
focusing. I focus to the hyperfocal distance at whatever f-sto I am
using. Isn't that how most users work?

Aaron

richard_cynan wrote:

>
>
>
> Dear forum, I'm having a whale of a time trying to adjust the
> viewfinder lens to match the marked distances. I secure the camera to
> a level surface and place a magazine 2M from the camera's image plane.
> Once focused correctly through the viewfinder, and adjusted to match
> the corresponding distance on the lens ring, the camera won't focus at
> infinity.
>
> Should I adjust the viewfinder lens to match 2M or infinity? I've not
> even started on the image-taking lenses yet.
>
> Thanks
> Richard
>
>

"richard_cynan" wrote:

>Should I adjust the viewfinder lens to match 2M or

infinity? I've not even started on the >image-taking lenses
yet.

I don't know of an official alignment procedure so I will
just tell you what has worked for me.

I have set the focus on 4 Sputniks but only found one that
had a viewfinder focus that needed to be re-set. I focused
it for infinity and set the distance ring at infinity. The
distance ring is locked to the lens barrel by very little
set screws. You would loosen them but not take them all the
way out else they are very easy to lose. The ring has a
stop on it at infinity and at that stop is where it should
be when the distant objects (infinity) are in sharpest
focus. For a distance object I like to use some towers on a
hill about 1/2 mile from my home. You want something at a
long distance that has detail that you can maximize easily.

After aligning the finder, per say, check it over the range
of operation and see that it moves smoothly over the entire
range and returns to infinity.

I then use a glass slide (small glass plate) with tape on it
so I can write on it and make lines on the tape vertically.
the lines are not critical as to spacing. I tape the slide
to the film plane so the tape markings are where the film
would be (tape on the lens side of the slide). I set the F
stop on the Sput at full aperture and lock the shutter fully
open using "B" and a locking cable release. Make sure the
rangefinder is at infinity.

With the gear rings off the taking lenses I adjust the
lenses for infinity by using a SLR camera with the split
image finder set on infinity to look into the front of the
Sputnik's lens at the markings on the tape and adjust the
Sputnik lens so the viewed marks are not split. I need to
do this with plenty of light on the slide. It helps if both
cameras can be stationary. When it is set, put the gear
ring back on and screw it down while keeping the lens barrel
from moving. Do this for both lenses. Recheck them to be
sure they are still in focus at infinity.

That should have it but you should move the lenses over the
focus range and see that they work smoothly and that the
gears do not disengage over the focus range.

Also:
I have never had any luck finding set screws to replace lost
ones. I have also had some that were stripped out and the
small screws would not tighten. I have taken all the
remaining screws out and saved them for spares should I need
them on another camera and have re-tapped the screw holes
for #2-56 screws. I was able to find #2-56 set screws. It
is a good fix.

Chuck Holzner