the unofficial Cosina-Voigtlander User Community

Hi, guys,

The vertical alignment of my R3M's rangefinder is slightly off. It's been like this right from the beginning (the camera was bought new). Sending it back for adjustment would have been to much trouble, especially as the horizontal alignment seems to be fine, which is why I decided to live with it.
However, I recently found the instructions for setting the vertical alignment, and I wanted to try and do it myself.
I removed the accessory shoe cover. So far so good.
The next step seemed not to be as easy, though. I saw the four screws, three black and one silver, just like the instructions stated. I managed to remove the silver one and two of the black ones, but the last screw is too tight and the head has started to round off. It's not completely round, because I stopped when I saw what was happening (hopefully not too late), but it's visibly damaged nevertheless.
What can I do now, besides giving up? Is there any way to remove it?

Thank you.

The screws in my R2A were fairly loose...

Anyway, I would stop as to not make it impossible for a repairman to open. If you do have a professional adjust it for you, have them replace the screw so that you can do it yourself later if you need to.

Exactly the same thing happened to me with my R3M. The first three came out easily and the fourth rounded. Like yourself, I stopped before it was completely gone.

I took mine into a local Watchmaker (Roy Charles in Aberdeen - to whom I am eternally grateful!) and using one of his extremely sharp, hard edged screwdrivers, he easily shifted the screw. I now have 3 screws holding the hotshoe in place and have suffered no problems as a result of it.

If you have a clock/watchmaker nearby - not a high street jeweller - give them a go before you send it off.

J