Perfex Fifty-Five Reanimated

Earlier this year I found some time to drag two boxed-up Candid Camera Company Perfex Fifty-Five cameras from under a cabinet, to see what I could make of them. Last time I had them out of the box was around 2011

 

After dusting them off I quickly concluded they were pretty far gone, but that I could probably make one of them work again by exchanging some parts. This included a shutter crate transplant and exchanging worn parts for less worn parts.

 

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/WP_20170129_001.jpg

 

Followed by a fresh Aki-Asahi Lizard skin

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PerfexSkin02.jpg

 

Ready to rock

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/Perfex04.jpg

 

The Perfex Fifty-Five was Candid Camera Company's flagship camera in 1940. It has a rangefinder and extinction meter, interchangeable lenses with a 38mm screw mount (different enough to get around Leica patents) andit has a hot-shoe (30 years before the competition)

 

Anyway, here's a few results from a roll of Fomapan 100 I fed through the camera.

I picked the Wollensak Velostigmat 50 f/2.8 lens over the Scienar Anastigmat 50 f/3.5

I developed the film in Ro9, 1+19 for 6.5 minutes at 20C. Agitated the first 30 seconds and 3 inversions every minute.

 

1. Nephew, with smal light leak

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170301.jpg

 

2. Storm damage

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170302.jpg

 

3. Right there, yes!

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170303.jpg

 

4. Flea market aftermath

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170307.jpg

 

5. Shoes for Charity

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170308.jpg

 

6. Pebbles

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg154/albums/userpics/10001/PT170310.jpg

 

 

Now, except for some scratches on the negatives, I'd say test succesfully completed.

Nice restoration job, Rick! The re-skinning looks good.

Astonishing revival of a dead camera!

 

 

Kent in SD

Congratulations, Rick, on a job very well done. It's not a well-known camera, and it's certainly a valuable addition to your collection.

Quelle fromage!

I am in awe of your reanimation of this dead tissue.

My Perfex fifty-five sort of works, but like so many post-WWII American industrial efforts there were deep flaws not shared with cameras made in "Occupied Japan".

 

BTW, the only 'good' color shot of the first A-Bomb test was shot with a Perfex ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Aeby )

Cannot see any of the images...

Cannot see any of the images...

I could not see them either at work, but can at home/on mobile. Rick's personal site flibweb.nl is (and hence the pictures are) blocked by my firm's site-filtering. Robin, perhaps you're experiencing similar. Anyway, Rick, those are quite good pictures from a zombie camera. I'm impressed with the repair job.

--Dave

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

The problems some are experiencing might be due to the lack of an SSL certificate on my site. Company policy might be to block all unsecure sites.

I've never had problems with this before, but it might be interesting for me to upgrade my website... supposedly this isn't too expensive.

Rick,

 

Super job!! I've always been blown away at your prowess for resurrection of cameras. To go boldly where only few dare!! Keep it up!!

Hey Rick, I realize that this thread is 2 years old but I hope you're still following it or at least getting messages forwarded to you regarding your repairs and efforts with this camera...I have one also that I'm in the process of disassembling and have a question regarding removing the shutter crate from the body and since you've done this who better to ask right?...I saw your posts from back in 2011 when you were disassembling your camera but the photos you posted with your progress in disassembling the camera are no longer visible but fortunately the one above with the camera disassembled still was so this was helpful...so here's where I'm stuck, I've removed the leatherette, all of the screws on the front to the left and right of the lens mount, and the knobs on top of the camera but left the slow speed dial stop (it appears to be just a press-in plug basically) and the lens helical in place as it didn't appear that they needed to be removed and can now wiggle the crate just slightly to the left and right and up and down but it will not move any further than this and I'm 99% certain that the brass rewind release push button on the front of the camera above the slow speed dial is what's holding the crate in place and keeping it from being removed...would I be correct in assuming this?...I saw that you had managed to remove this release button in your 2011 posting 'relatively painlessly' but again the photos are no longer visible and you didn't mention what was involved in removing the button so could you tell me what you had to do to remove it?...I've tried very light prying outwardly with the tip of a flat lade screwdriver thinking maybe it was a snap-in button that would release under a little pressure but it didn't and I do not wish to damage anything in this 70-odd year old camera so if you have a moment can you enlighten me on how you removed this button and if it's the last piece that could be holding the crate in place of if there's other 'hidden surprises' involved in removing the crate also?...any other pointers or help you can lend, comments, pics, etc. would be greatly appreciated also...thanks in advance, Rick Smith

Hey Rick, I realize that this thread is 2 years old but I hope you're still following it or at least getting messages forwarded to you regarding your repairs and efforts with this camera...I have one also that I'm in the process of disassembling and have a question regarding removing the shutter crate from the body and since you've done this who better to ask right?...I saw your posts from back in 2011 when you were disassembling your camera but the photos you posted with your progress in disassembling the camera are no longer visible but fortunately the one above with the camera disassembled still was so this was helpful...so here's where I'm stuck, I've removed the leatherette, all of the screws on the front to the left and right of the lens mount, and the knobs on top of the camera but left the slow speed dial stop (it appears to be just a press-in plug basically) and the lens helical in place as it didn't appear that they needed to be removed and can now wiggle the crate just slightly to the left and right and up and down but it will not move any further than this and I'm 99% certain that the brass rewind release push button on the front of the camera above the slow speed dial is what's holding the crate in place and keeping it from being removed...would I be correct in assuming this?...I saw that you had managed to remove this release button in your 2011 posting 'relatively painlessly' but again the photos are no longer visible and you didn't mention what was involved in removing the button so could you tell me what you had to do to remove it?...I've tried very light prying outwardly with the tip of a flat lade screwdriver thinking maybe it was a snap-in button that would release under a little pressure but it didn't and I do not wish to damage anything in this 70-odd year old camera so if you have a moment can you enlighten me on how you removed this button and if it's the last piece that could be holding the crate in place of if there's other 'hidden surprises' involved in removing the crate also?...any other pointers or help you can lend, comments, pics, etc. would be greatly appreciated also...thanks in advance, Rick Smith

Hi Rick,

 

The push-in button above the slow speed dial is indeed a snap-in button and can be pulled out of the shell with a little force. It's only held in by friction from a spring or cam as I recall. The removed pin is just visible on the lower left of the first picture in the initial post above.

 

To remove the shutter crate from the body shell, I had a little help from Rick Oleson at the time.

-The top cover of the body will also need to be removed for this.

-The wire of the hot-shoe connector needs to be disconnected.

-Pull the bottom of the shutter crate away from the shell towards the back of the camera and then pull the crate downward.

Hah. A "reanimated" thread reanimated.

Two years late but nonetheless, a solid finished result and great sample shots to prove it!

Hi Rick,

 

The push-in button above the slow speed dial is indeed a snap-in button and can be pulled out of the shell with a little force. It's only held in by friction from a spring or cam as I recall. The removed pin is just visible on the lower left of the first picture in the initial post above.

 

To remove the shutter crate from the body shell, I had a little help from Rick Oleson at the time.

-The top cover of the body will also need to be removed for this.

-The wire of the hot-shoe connector needs to be disconnected.

-Pull the bottom of the shutter crate away from the shell towards the back of the camera and then pull the crate downward.

Hey Rick, thanks for the info, you were right about the rewind release button shaft and and your memory served you well...the rewind release push button shaft has a small brass round-wire ring that sits in a groove near the end of the shaft and acts essentially like an external snap ring on the shaft...when the button and shaft is pulled hard outward towards the front of the camera the ring on the shaft being round wire is compressed into the grove by the end of the tube the shaft slides back and forth in and then the shaft can be pulled all the way out of the tube and body...so many thanks for taking the time to reply and for this pointer, it's good info and now we'll see what's next....have a good one, Rick Smith

You've actually got me to load another roll of film in the camera ;)

Hi Rick,

 

Don't know if you would still be reading this but if you are I would like your input. I also have a Perfex Fifty Five, and the shutter doesn't seem to be tensioning fully using the film advance knob. I already have the shutter out of the body but would be interested in any suggestions you may have as to correct orientation and alignment of the gear arrangement on the top of the shutter box.

Hi Hunter,

 

I spent somet time figuring out what was the right way to mesh the gears to get the timings correct.

There are cams and pins controling the movement of the gears closest to the film plane.

I bought a sample of this model and had it shipped to my father's address... haven'T seen hide no hair of it....that was also back in 20??

I was eventually able to get the shutter in my Perfex 55 figured out, Rick Olsen's notes were especially helpful although he does not specifically cover the quick way to align the gear train.

 

Thus, just in case anyone comes across this thread with the same question I did, I want to post my explanation about how to get the shutter gearing mechanism set up.

 

The first thing is that the shaft on which the film advance sprockets operate has three gears on the top plate of the shutter. The top of these 3 gears moves independently of the rest of the shaft, however its travel is limited to 270 degrees or so, with the purpose of providing an over-travel stop for the shutter speed dial. The first thing that must be done is to unsure that the shutter is not cocked, then make sure that this gear is turned as fully counter clockwise as is possible. We are currently setting up the camera in B mode.

 

Now, the shutter speed shaft has two gears on it. The bottom of the shaft has a cam on it with an outward protrusion. The left edge of this protrusion (as viewed from the front of the shutter with the protrusion facing you) must push down on the shaft that rises out of the slow speed assembly. If it is assembled with the bottom gear rotated too far clockwise the protrusion will be too far to the left and the slow speeds can be engaged on settings other than B. If the bottom gear is rotated too far counter clockwise, the slow speed functions will not engage at all (what my camera was doing when I received it).

 

Finally, the two gears on the speed selector shaft have two interfacing pins. The bottom gear has a pin facing up and the top gear has a pin facing down. The bottom pin must be to the right of the top pin and top pin to the left of the right pin. The gears must also be meshed so that two pins are as close together as possible to fully wind the shutter, otherwise the shutter may not wind fully when the top speeds are selected and the camera will fail to make an exposure on these speeds.

Excellent work in reviving this camera! I love these old Perfex cameras...I own three. Unfortunately only one is fully functional so it's inspiring to see the work you've done. Perhaps I'll get up the nerve to take mine apart sometime too.

 

My understanding is that because of the low manufacturing tolerances of this camera, each lens must be manually adjusted for each individual camera to achieve proper infinity focus. If you've taken the lens from one camera and installed in on another, the lens must be adjusted for that new camera. Apparently there is an infinity focus adjustment screw on the lens that is used to calibrate the lens to the camera body. I think you can do this yourself by placing a bit of tracing paper (or better yet an old focusing screen from another camera) at the film plane and setting the lens focus ring to infinity, then adjust the lens to focus on a distant mountain or something similar.

 

In any case, this is great work and thanks for sharing the results!