Questions about Realist Focusing and Framing

[P3D John Edmark <edmark@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently bought my 2nd Realist 2.8 camera. It has Ektar lenses. My first
Realist has german lenses.  I noticed that the distance marker for the
focusing knob is in a different position on the two cameras.  On the first
camera it is located at 9 o-clock (if you take top of the camera to be 12
noon), but on the second camera it is located at aprox. 8:15. The first
camera has distances printed on the aluminum plate surrounding the knob.
The second camera has an unmarked black plate. (BTW, I believe that when I
bought my first camera (7 years ago) I had the plate replaced because the
strap holder had worn out.  I can't remember whether the original one
looked the same or not.) I tried to compare them by using the parallax
focusing, measuring the actual distance with a tape measure and then
comparing it to the guage.  The results seem to be that the second camera's
marker is wrong; the actual measured distance always corresponded to the 9
0-clock position. As for the second camera, it's actual distance
corresponded to 9:30.  If you made it through all that here are my
questions:

1) Is the parallax focusing system guaranteed to correspond to the actual
focus?
2) If not, can it be adjusted to do so?
3) Is there a way to adjust the focus dial to line its numbers up with the
distance marker, regardless of where the marker happens to be?
4) If so, can I do it myself?
5) Why are there plates with locators in two different places?
6) Are both types available with aperture markings?
7) Bonus point question: My ektar camera has a "Hyperfocal table" on the
lense cover. However, it's calculations do not correspond to those around
the focusing knob of my German Realist, especially at small apertures.
Which one should I believe?

Now, on to framing. I've determined that both my cameras viewfinders "lie".
Specifically, they both show less of the top of the picture than is
actually being taken, and more of the bottom than is actually being taken.

1) Is there any way to correct this?
2) If so, Can I do this myself?
2) If it is not correctable, does this offset exist on all Realists?

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

-John Edmark



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