Ixpress dropped

[eddysmit]

Hi,

when playing with my Sinar, I tried to unlock the bellow. Unfortionally the back with my Ixpress 384C also unlocked and dropped on the ground.
When testing it on my Mamiya 645AFD, the focus is a little off. Focus point is further than normal.
This means that the sensor is to far??
I have opened the Ixpress and have found 3 adjusting screws for the sensor.
Do you know if it possible to adjust it yourself?
I think it has to be adjusted only 0.05 - 0.10 mm.
Another way is the use of a thinner chim. No idea if it exists and where to get it.

I tried to test my Schneider 90mm f8...
And I plan to buy a Grandagon N 90mm f4.5
Is that better then the Schneider ? Can it be used with the Ixpress?

Regards.

[Kumar]

Hi,

I don't know if you can adjust the sensor position yourself, but shim kits are available from Hasselblad dealers. Or you can make your own shims from a thin black plastic sheet. Nick-T gave me this suggestion when I was looking for a shim kit.

I have the Grandagon N 90mm 4.5, and use it with a 132C. In my subjective experience, it is excellent, despite it not being a "digital" lens. Is your Schneider a later Super-Angulon or the older Angulon? The older lens had considerable batch variation.

Kumar

[Weldon Brewster]

whoa that sucks about dropping your back.  There is a torx screw recessed into the upper right hand side, it's buried inside the adapter.  You need to tighten this until you get light resistance, that will 'lock' the back to your camera.  There are 4 screws holding the mamiya adapter to the back, under the adapter you will see the focus shims.  I would setup the focus for your Mamiya rather than your view camera.  Talk to the Hasselblad folks in Redmond, WA they can get you setup with a shim kit.  Be sure you get the instructions with it.  I shot with an Ixpress back for 3 years until I moved on to Phase One.

Cheers,
Weldon

[eddysmit]

Thank you for the advice. Do you now what the sizes are of those shims? Redmond, I better order them here in Belgium I think 
First I'm going to check if the the fault is the same in the 4 corners. Otherwise I have to correct the screws inside.

Kumar, the lens I have is a Technika Super Angulon 1:8/90 Scheider - Kreuznach.
Technika is Linhof, so selected out off the batch I think.
However the Grandagon will be better I think?

[Nick-T]

I would absolutely avoid adjusting the sensor position, the tolerances are just too fine and you run the risk of moving the sensor off parallel. Is the plane of focus out across the whole sensor? If it is then you can (as mentioned) move the plane back and forth by adding/removing shims. You can make your own shims (I used acetate film) by cutting strips to go on each side with cutouts for the pin contacts. I built them up in layers until I got the right depth for the camera I was using at the time (503CW).
HTH
Nick-T

[Kumar]

The Grandagon is definitely better than the SA f/8, but significantly heavier and costlier.

Kumar

[eddysmit]

The Grandagon is definitely better than the SA f/8, but significantly heavier and costlier.

Kumar

The price is 300$. But there is a smal dent in the filterring.
And it has a DB shutter  I don't have the plate that supports this...
So the only way is to look for a Copal shutter?

[shutay]

The shims come in a few sizes - that I know of - 50 micrometers (microns?) thick, 100 micrometers and 150 micrometers. They are labelled by way of a triangular notch along the upper right inside edge of the shim - 1 notch being 50 micrometers, 2 notches for 100um and 3 notches for 150 um.

To get thicker than 150um, you are supposed to combine shims, meaning that you can potentially get all the way up to 300um. It comes in a set of 3, along with printed instructions.

[eddysmit]

Thank you for all the advice.
After some testing yesterday, the sensor doesn't seems to be off parallel.
However I need to put an extra 50µm shims. The shim that came with the back is 20µm.

Now I can start looking for acetate film or other materials and start cutting.