TLR Lens Element Removal

[stephen_komp]

Hi Everyone -

 

I just bought an old Ricoh Diacord TLR that I would like to convert to a

pinhole. I need to remove the viewing lens to do this. I managed to get the

rear element out fairly easily, but the front element is a beast. For those of you

who don't know this camera, it's very similar to the Rollei and Yashica TLRs.

 

Can anyone give me advice on how to remove the front element of the taking

lens?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Steve

[adam_eberbach]

Looking at the front of the Rolleiflex it appears that the front element is screwed in, so perhaps the end of a dowel just wide enough and tapered right to hit the ring, with some grippy rubber wrapped around it, would give you enough purchase to unscrew it. This would probably at least remove coating from the lens, but you've probably realized the conversion is likely one-way. You could make the end of the dowel concave to minimize damage.

[siu_fai_au1]

On a Rolleiflex you need to remove the front panel first before you can remove the front cell or group. You may be able to remove the front element using a spanner wrench but I don't think you can remove all elements without removing the front panel.

 

HTH,

 

Siu Fai

[stephen_komp]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm going to try the dowel method first, but I

was afraid that I might have to remove the front panel.

 

Thanks again - Steve

[greg_erker]

I've taken apart a number of Diacords and Ricohmatic 225's.

You will have to remove the front

panel to remove the front elements as far as I recall.

To do that you need to peel off the front leatherette and then

remove about 6 tiny screws to remove the panel. Then you should

be able to unscrew the front group from the shutter.

 

Good luck - Greg

[frank_scheitrowsky1]

It would sure be a lot easier to create a medium format pin-hole camera from a folding camera type.