styvone
Established
Hi everyone,
Recently, I became the owner of two beautiful FSU rangefinders: a FED-2 and Kiev-2. Both appear to be in excellent working condition, but I wanted to make sure that the rangefinders were calibrated correctly before shooting anything of importance. So, I shot a few test shots today at varying distances (1m, 2m, 3m, etc.) to check, but I'm having a hard time verifying if what I'm focused on is actually the focus point of the photo. I shot everything with a high enough shutter speed (1/125+) to avoid blur, and left the aperture at 2.8 to get the thinnest DOF. The lens that I used on both was a Jupiter-12 (I have one in each mount).
Could someone with experience calibrating rangefinders chime in? I'm really not sure if they are correctly in focus or not. In each of these photos, I'm focused on the lines I drew on a sheet of paper taped onto a wall.
The photos attached to this post are for the FED-2 + Jupiter-12. Will post the ones for the Kiev-2 in a follow-up comment.
Thanks in advance!
Recently, I became the owner of two beautiful FSU rangefinders: a FED-2 and Kiev-2. Both appear to be in excellent working condition, but I wanted to make sure that the rangefinders were calibrated correctly before shooting anything of importance. So, I shot a few test shots today at varying distances (1m, 2m, 3m, etc.) to check, but I'm having a hard time verifying if what I'm focused on is actually the focus point of the photo. I shot everything with a high enough shutter speed (1/125+) to avoid blur, and left the aperture at 2.8 to get the thinnest DOF. The lens that I used on both was a Jupiter-12 (I have one in each mount).
Could someone with experience calibrating rangefinders chime in? I'm really not sure if they are correctly in focus or not. In each of these photos, I'm focused on the lines I drew on a sheet of paper taped onto a wall.
The photos attached to this post are for the FED-2 + Jupiter-12. Will post the ones for the Kiev-2 in a follow-up comment.
Thanks in advance!
Attachments
styvone
Established
styvone
Established
I realize these attached photos are tiny! I've uploaded them into a Google drive. Hopefully people can see there. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dRdbEmpgYEL2pCEkA5LlyedBCnPl1_hI?usp=sharing
nikon_sam
Shooter of Film...
When testing I tend to use a Cereal box as a target...something with big sharp graphics to focus on and smaller graphics to check for sharpness/detail...
styvone
Established
farlymac
PF McFarland
One thing you should do is have the same quality of light with each shot. Your FED series goes from a nicely lit target to a couple that are dim and low contrast. In the Kiev series the middle shot exposure is different enough from the other two you had a color shift, again with a loss of contrast.
That said, after looking at the larger images I don't see much of a problem with the focus. You need to check it at infinity for a true test, which is also the point where you would make adjustments. Never adjust from the close focus end of the scale.
PF
That said, after looking at the larger images I don't see much of a problem with the focus. You need to check it at infinity for a true test, which is also the point where you would make adjustments. Never adjust from the close focus end of the scale.
PF
nzeeman
Well-known
all seems fine to me in both cameras... if i got results like that in test i wouldn't adjust further.
styvone
Established
Totally agree. It was hard to take these similar exposures, since these were taken outside on a cloudy day. The clouds were moving a lot above my head :bang:
Thanks to everyone for the input! Really appreciate it.