[Leica] Testing Rangefinder accuracy

["Sal DiMarco,Jr." <sdmp007@pressroom.com>]

Lugger & Leggers,
    Much has been recently written about checking rangefinder focusing
accuracy.
    It would take a severe blow or hit to knock the camera lens mount or
lens alignment out. However, as we all know, sometimes just looking
cross-eyed at a rangefinder will misalign it.
    The late Bob Schwalberg once suggested a quick way to do a rangefinder
test.
    First for infinity... focus on a cloud. It is far enough away to be
infinity.
    For closer distances, put a lipstick mark on a mirror (I'm a bachelor,
so I use black tape) set your camera to one meter focus by moving the camera
in and out. Once your focused on one meter, move to the side a bit and
refocus on the camera image. The scale should say two meters. If it doesn't
it's off.
    Finally, as he pointed out, if your rangefinder is off a little, you
lose focus at f/2 but at f/8 everything will be fine.
Happy Snaps,
Sal