[KOML] New Koni Omega Owner

[pjcaplow@sprynet.com]

Recently I've been using an M3 Leica that I borrowed from my sister and I've 
really appreciated the ease of focusing.  When I decided that I wanted to get 
back into medium format again, it occurred to me that a rangefinder might suit 
me better in that format too.  

I found a grand total of 30 Koni-Omega and Rapid-Omega cameras available from 
various internet dealers but ended up buying a Koni-Omega Rapid M from a local 
used camera store here in Minneapolis.  At $360.00, its on the high end but the 
camera is in remarkably nice condition.  The inside of the film back looks like 
it's never been used and the black paint on the exterior shows only minor wear. 
The shutter speeds are generally about a stop slow so I set the film speed on my 
light meter to 200 when I'm using 100 speed film.  Is a sluggish shutter more or 
less normal on these 25-30 year old cameras?  How difficult and expensive is it 
to adjust the shutter in the 90mm lens? I do some repair work (mostly 35mm 
Exaktas) but I've never worked on an interlens shutter.  

I've handled several of these cameras and the film advance seemed very tight on 
all but one of them (a very old and worn out looking Koni-Omega Rapid).  It 
takes a surprising amount of force to pull the transport knob out and then an 
equal amount of force to push it back in.  This is true even when the back is 
off the camera with no film loaded.  Is this considered normal?  If it is 
normal, what is the cause of all this friction?

The flash synch cord from my Vivitar 283 fits the pc connector on the lens very 
loosely.  It is a snug fit on all my other cameras.  Is this normal?  Is there 
any solution that's simpler and cheaper than finding an original Koni-Omega, 3 
foot, coiled, threaded flash cable (as mentioned in the Owner's Manual) and an 
adapter to convert the plug to fit the Vivitar?

The nut that allows the handgrip positioning set-screw to be tightened is 
missing (I have the set screw itself).  A long phillips head screw with a split 
washer and nut is doing the job now but I'd rather have the correct piece.  Does 
anyone have any suggestions on finding a nut with the right head, threads and 
collar?  I don't even know exactly what it looks like.

I took some test shots to test the framing accuracy of the viewfinder and I 
found it to be reasonably accurate except for the bottom of the frame.  The 
pictures included a fair amount of subject matter that fell below the 
viewfinder's bottom frame line when the picture was taken.  This didn't surprise 
me too much because I had noticed earlier that the parallax correction involves 
movement of the the top and left framelines only.  The bottom and right side 
framelines remain stationary as the camera is focused.  Isn't this something of 
a shortcoming in the design of the viewfinder?

I realize that this is a rather lengthy list of questions but any suggestions or 
comments will be very much appreciated.


Peter Caplow