p.1 #1 · Adjust infinity stop on MD 35-70/3.5 Macro
I had a bizarre thing happen today while out shooting. My MD 35-70/3.5 Macro, which I've had for about two weeks, suddenly won't reach infinity. To the best of my knowledge nothing has happened to the lens, everything moves smoothly, zoom and focus rings, etc. I've shot with the lens a bunch before with no issues, but today, I can't get it to reach infinity at any zoom setting. it's worst at 35mm, where the furthest it seems to focus is around 2m away. (Stopping down to f/16 or so will get you close to infinity, but it's not exactly an ideal solution). I have no idea what's going on. I'm not sure if something slipped or what, but any help to get this thing back to infinity would help.
p.1 #2 · Adjust infinity stop on MD 35-70/3.5 Macro
Bump with more info: it's not my adapter: it won't reach infinity now on a Minolta body. I have no idea what could have possibly happened. Nothing is loose, nothing seems out of place, nothing looks different from how it did on Monday, but Monday I shot with it for a while and got some great shots at a distance, with no problems at all hitting infinity. Today it's totally off.
p.1 #3 · Adjust infinity stop on MD 35-70/3.5 Macro
Anyone know how to adjust the infinity stop on this lens? I've never done anything like this before. Even if it's not on this lens, anyone know how to adjust them on other Minolta lenses that may also help?
Pretty bummed...I got a whopping week and a half of good use out of the lens before this cropped up.
p.1 #4 · Adjust infinity stop on MD 35-70/3.5 Macro
Ok - I know I'm participating in this thread by myself, but I'll post the info here in case anyone else has this issue.
I still don't know what caused this issue in the first place...it's incredibly bizarre. However, I took the focus ring rubber off and simply started removing screws. There is a focus stop post that becomes visible once you focus to MFD. Removing this post allows you to focus throughout the entire helicoid's range of motion, to well past the infinity mark (which, in my case, is exactly enough to hit actual infinity at 35mm). However, removing the post also removes the MFD stop. While this might be nice for even more macro magnification, it's not so good if you keep turning, as the whole barrel and front element group comes off. So, with that front group off, I could see there are two 1" long metal strips that form the infinity and MFD stops. I removed the infinity stop completely, screwed the focus group back on, and reinstalled the stop post. So now it stops at MFD but allows me to go well beyond the infinity mark and therefore actually reach infinity on the lens.
I'm still completely baffled how this could have become messed up, as it definitely focused fine before a few days ago. But, at the least, the lens works completely now. Images are nice and sharp. Odd that I had to 'break' the lens further by removing a piece in order to get it to function again, but given the minimal investment, I'm just glad it works again. Hopefully it'll stay that way.
