James Markus wrote:
I have trouble focusing, and I purchased a magnifying eyepiece for the Pentax 645, because I missed focus so often on that first roll. When I went to remove the threaded OEM eyepiece to install the Pentax specialty eyepiece - the old one would not budge. I took the rubber bit off and was confronted with white crystals of corrosion. No amount of cleaning or oil would free it. I found a video of someone repairing the eyepiece - so I got to see how deep the threaded brass ring the rubber had been attached to was - then sawed through the ring with a jewelers saw. "PING" - It literally flew off - being under so much tension. Hopefully, this will result in more keepers. One more frame from the first roll of 30+ year old Verichrome Pan....Show more →
I had a lot of difficulty focusing my Mamiya 645 Pro TL which is why I switched to Hasselblad H1. These cameras really are harder to focus than I imagined.
Desmolicious wrote:
I had a lot of difficulty focusing my Mamiya 645 Pro TL which is why I switched to Hasselblad H1. These cameras really are harder to focus than I imagined.
That’s probably why there’s a cottage industry for replacement screens, focusing aids and other gizmos.
Desmolicious wrote:
I had a lot of difficulty focusing my Mamiya 645 Pro TL which is why I switched to Hasselblad H1. These cameras really are harder to focus than I imagined.
Before I got the Pentax brand magnifying eyepiece - I duct taped my Nikon FM Magnifying eyepiece to the 645. Their design is identical - and it worked. Screws on with a hinge so you can flip it up so you can see at 100% for framing - pop it down to check critical focus. A clever design really. It's all mounted and works great, but the corrosion ate away about 4mm of the top of one thread. It just isn't clean enough. I was using toothpicks, and jewelers tweezers. I need to brush small drops of lime away, or vinegar to dissolve the crud, clean - then give it a thin coat of helicoid grease.
Desmolicious wrote:
I had a lot of difficulty focusing my Mamiya 645 Pro TL which is why I switched to Hasselblad H1. These cameras really are harder to focus than I imagined.
Interesting.
I have both Pentax 645N and Mamiya 645 Pro.
The 645N have auto focus so I don't pay any attention on it , but I have no problem to focus my 645 Pro.
Some photos from what turned out to be my last roll of Flic Film Aurora 800 (it is apparently discontinued) and my first roll of Tri-X since the early 1970s. I shot the Aurora 800 on my Nikon FM3a with Nikkor 50mm/1.4 Ai-S; the Tri-X went through my Holga.
