Voigtlander repaired

[Minoxit]

This camera was in a rather poor condition when bought from a car boot

sales,weeks ago.Cleaned,lubed and repair a small hole in the bellows.I just had

a roll of 160 Agfa color,and the film came out pretty bad,just one photo out of

8 was barely printable.Looks like the whole of the negative was grossly

overexposed,with known results!

 

Anyone any advice on this camera?Any bad/good experiences?Shutter/glass possible

troubles?As far as I can see,this camera performs ok,and overexposure was not

her fault,as one would imagine:-))

 

Regards

 

JT<div></div>

[Minoxit]

Forgot to ask if anyone knows the exact model of this camera...not essential,but could come handy one day:-)<div></div>

[riccardo_mottola]

I think it is an early bessa.

 

Your shutter might be working but being widely out of spec?

[Minoxit]

riccardo,thanks for your kind input.Afaics,the shutter is near the speeds it should have,but I cannot tell for sure.How can one find this out,and how can this be sorted without sending the camera to a specialized repair shop?

 

thanks

 

JT

[weezul]

I like the Landschaft/Gruppe/Portrait settings :-) As to bellows - one hole is usually a herald of more to come, especially when you start using a camera that's been idle for years. I hope not the case here, but anyway...

[ralf_j.]

JT - this is hard to pin point, the agfa portrait is a forgiving film so I am a bit puzzled. What did you use to plug the hole with? How big was it? Was it on the corner of the folding pleats? I am facing some challenges now with my beautiful Bessa 66 as I also discovered 2 tiny pin holes, and am trying to decide how to repair with minimal intrusion.

 

Give the bellows another check with a flash light placed inside the camera in a dark room. Regards

[ralf_j.]

Also Julian - This is not a Bessa as it predates it. This is simply called the voigltander rollfilm camera produced from 1927 to 1930. This is the lower end model as it has the simple shutter and a 3 element Voigtar lens which should be capable of decent results when stopped down a little.

[classcamera]

There is no easy way to tell if the shutter speeds are correct, without the use of a tester. More than likely though they are slow, and non-linear. The other thing I regularly encounter with older cameras such as this (the low cost model) is that the lens is not properly collimated. they usually left the factory okay, but some repair person down the road, took it apart and did not put all the shutter shims back in. Both problems can be resolved for the cost of a CLA. Ask on this forum for a good repair shop near your home.

Oh, one last thing, the old uncoated lenses are much lower in contrast than the newer lenses most people are accustomed to, so you may want to push your film in the future.

[dan flanders]

I believe that Rick Olesson describes how to check your shutter using the TV or Monitor screen. Unless it is gummed up with congealed lubricant an old shutter should be reasonably accurate if exercised regularly.

[pc1]

just like what Mark Hansen said. also excercise the shutter before putting another roll of film in, and when you shoot, try and use your palm (which ever is free) as a lens hood to block stray light from hitting the uncoated lens, for a bit more contrast on your shots.a tripod would really help too. Cheers ! PC