Basics of Function

To get familiar with this beast, I've looked it over many times. You should too. The more familiar you are with the camera, the less chances of things going horribly wrong.

From the front you can see the focus knob, don't turn it while the camera is closed. The rangefinder has 3 windows, I don't worry about which does what. All I know, is they are pretty dirty. Most likely anything decades old, is going to have at least some dust, if not "other" kinds of stuff as well.

Looking at the back, you can see the rangefinder has only 2 windows here. One is the viewfinder, where you compose the pic, the other is the rangefinder where you focus your scene. Its not actually that distracting to use, if anything it makes you more aware of your scene as you have to pause while you focus and then compose. The Model 110B and 900 have coupled view/rangefinders, with only one window for both tasks. The red switch is strictly for the defunct roll-film, makes a cool clicking noise though. The silver tab holds the back port closed, many people taped the procedures for using the camera here.

To open the camera from the front, press the little button. A spring and pin will pop the focus rails out enough for you to now unfold it. As you unfold it, you will hear and feel an obvious click as the front locks into place. It will NOT move again, these cameras are built like tanks and this is an obvious place to take notice. There is no way you can, after it locks, close the front without knowing the way to close it. I think this is a good thing, as you can use the front to attach a tripod, notice the thread-hole, and any movement would be quite unwelcome.

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The Models

These are the models I have personal experience with and are used within this site.