...Currently restoring a wwii era speed graphic... or at least parts of it are, I see a LOT of work had been done on it before someone began painting the exterior. There was a Kalart rangefinder attached to the side; the newer black model, not an early model. Or is it? Ity has the black cover familiar to me from this era. However, looking inside, I see some differences, the most obvious of which is the lack of prism inside. Instead, it is a simple mirror. I'm only used to seeing the prism, and because I have not read all the info on this sight yet I do not know if this is normal, or what. Looking at the online manual on this site, I see that the things that are missing are the items on page 7 numbered 1, 2, and 3. (I'd read the whole thing so as to know what thses are actually called, but I already have a headach from the flu, so humor me folks.) Actually, the scale (numbered 3) is there, but shifed over closer to where the prism would be. What's it sound like I have here? Any easier to adjust? Harder? Is it even the Kalart? As always, thanks folks. Pictures of this project will eventually follow.

jeff

I'll wait for the flu to ebb and the pictures to come in. Meanwhile the repair manual I have talks about a model E with just a mirror (the prism was the deluxe 'E-2' model. There is also a Kalart RF that uses a hex bolt to lock down one of the scales and that bold his hidden under something. The instructions say to loosen, "use the enclosed thin wrench" heh heh yeah right.

Older Kalarts had a mirror on the bottom instead of a prism..Pre-Ann and some Ann models. No diff in adjustment, just a few differences in basic design (simpler), and work just as well as later models! Bert

Hey! "Simpler!" That's what I like to hear! I'm not even close to setting up the rangefinder yet, but wanted to see what I got myself into. The pictures will be a while in coming; this is a camera that had been painted over so many times that the leather looked smooth except for the cracks. At first I thought it had been re-covered in lizardskin. Broken screws sticking out of the cover where they had broken off when someone had tried to add or remove hardware. Overall a mess, so I had no qualms about completely reconditioning this one. Stay tuned!

jeff