Rolleiflex X, 1949 vintage, a beater

[Dan Deary]

<p>I found this Rollei in a rummage sale, no less, and got it for $10. Before I purchased it, I inspected it for focus, shutter speeds, dents, fungus in lens and so on. Everything seemed to have worked on the surface. The face plate was severely tarnished so cosmetically it was in poor condition. The only caveat was the label said “For Parts.” The major clue was that a metal gear was scotched taped to the top of the camera. The camera was intact so I was curious as to where the gear came from. I bought the camera and on closer inspection while home I realized that the film counter was always on “0” and there was no film stop working. The leatherette on the film winding side showed signs of being re-glued. The gear also showed signs of several mangled teeth. It appears someone took apart the camera hoping to fix a problem, couldn’t do it and just put everything back together sans broken gear(?)</p><div></div>

[Dan Deary]

<p>Side view</p><div></div>

[Dan Deary]

<p>The bad gear taped on top of camera</p><div></div>

[Dan Deary]

<p>I already have several Rollies and Rolleicords and have had two of them serviced at great expense. This is not worth servicing to me but it does offer a challenge to use it anyway the way it is. Here is my crazy solution: Live with 10 or 11 exposures instead of 12 to prevent overlap. Crank the film wind to approximate where it would normally be but allow a little extra space between exposures. I have put through Ilford paper backing and learned I can set up the 1^st frame after I start the film just after the feeler roller going 3 ¼ turns. From that point on I crank to the 10 o’clock position for the next several exposures, then 9 o’clock position until I reach the 7^th frame and finally for the remaining frames crank to the 8 o’clock position. This method may work but has potential for a lot of errors. Keeping count of the frames and remembering how far to crank is the problem. I may have to allow for film thickness as well.<br>

Isn’t this vintage camera hobby great!! Not only do I manually set each exposure with focus, shutter speed and aperture but now I have to <strong>count and</strong> <strong>watch my cranks!</strong> In theory, I should get great photographs with all this attention to detail.</p>

[SCL]

<p>FWIW sorry, but Bah Humbug. If the camera is worth using at all, you should have it properly serviced, especially since you got it for almost nothing. Personally I wouldn't waste the film and chemicals knowing that the condition is dubious at best.</p>

[rajmohan.]

<p>To each his own, Daniel, but if I were to keep such a camera, I would also prefer that it worked reliably and reasonably well. After a $300 service to get the camera to its former glory, you'd probably still be in the black, financially.<br>

But if it is a fun project to try the manual crank method, good luck - I hope you have success with it.<br>

Alternatively, since you already have many Rollei TLRs, you could give this one away to a young film enthusiast who can have it serviced and get a functioning Rolleiflex for a reasonable price.</p>

[Dan Deary]

<p>rajmohan: I probably will give or sell it to someone after I get tired of it; I agree it is too good of a camera to waste. I am just doing this for the challenge of it. </p>

[rajmohan.]

<p>Great - I wish you every success. Please let us know how it works out :)</p>

[Two23]

<p>If getting rid of it, I'd sell on ebay for parts.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Takes a bit to wear a Rollei out...respect!</p>