Bolex rex4 viewfinder problem

[Daniel Miler]

I tested my Bolex Rex4 and it seems the viewfinder is way off. The frame exposed on the negative is about 13-10% wider than what I see in the viewfinder (the difference can be seen in the image i uploaded from the tests). I also noticed the viewfinder is not so stable, that is, the eyepiece moves a bit which causes slight changes in frame size and position. 

Has anybody had any experience with trying to fix this kind of problem? There are no film camera technicians in Israel so its either trying to correct it myself or leaving it like this and I would like to give it a try if its not super complex (I have slight experience with home repairing old mechanical cameras, though mostly stils cameras). 

any advice or even links to tech/ repair manuals would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[Ruben Arce]

It's very common even in modern digital DSLRs that the viewfinder doesn't show 100% of the image the camera can capture. It was even more common with still and motion picture film cameras.

The image looks centered to me so I wouldn't be worried about that. I used to have a Bolex and I didn't notice any play on the viewfinder, I guess that's unusual, but if you are getting usable in focus images I don't think that's a big issue neither.

[Luigi Castellitto]

Daniel, Ruben is right, and I add: the more experts of me will confirm it, the Bolex H, typically, impressed a film image a little bigger than the one you saw on the viewfinder.
I also have a Rex4 (H8), I can't tell you if it's bigger than 10-13% (which seems a bit too much), but a little bigger yes, it's true.

Instead the viewfinder that moves might be to be reviewed, if it moves very deeply it could give you a wrong focus, slightly changing diopter, if it moves in other senses it could give you a displaced image composition.