Re: Realist Rangefinder Window

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As Paul says, this is called the "viewfinder".

>I can't say if it is "identical" because I haven't formally checked
>it, but my impression has always been that it is pretty accurate.

What creates the "field of view" through the viewfinder is a simple
plastic mask placed in front of the viewfinder's front lens.  If you
remove the large screw in front of this lens, you will access the
mask.  There is a certain degree of freedom in shifting the mask
horizontally and vertically and a very large degree of freedom
in rotating it.  

To check exactly what the lenses see, you can open the back and
use a piece of ground glass in the film gate with the shutter open
(in T).  I did this when I was checking the field of view of my
7p Realist.  I ended up discarding the plastic mask and marking
the viewfinder window with a marker.  Now I can see what the lenses
see and even more, outside the marks.

George Themelis


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