don_gillette

I just sold an SR1, it was a good camera it is an early one but believe it or not the SR2 was older,,go figure. The one I got was stored with a tensioned shutter which I cleaned and touched up the take up curtain spring a bit. It took off and will work for a long time, probably longer then me. The rokkor lenses were named for the rokko mountains which were in view of the office windows. Good luck you'll love it.

I found a great web site for any one looking for articles and information

pertaining to russian ;soviet cameras and lense etc. It's the ussrPhoto.com

it contains some repair pages and a good reference page. Don

The spots you see in the viewfinder, if sharply defined are on the ground glass. Take a camel hair brush that you have sprayed in ether and let dry, not all ethers will work some have contaminents, be careful. Then very gently remove any dust off the underside of the screen and the mirror. Do not use compressed air to clean , you could blow dust to the top of the ground glass which would require complete dissassembly to remove and then the prism would have to be re=aligned. When cleaning the mirror remember that it is a front surface silvering type, (very fragile coating. Always keep either a body cap or lense on the body to keep dust out..

I have found tehe early r-leicaflex lenses great, I have converted a 50 mm 3 cam r lense to work on my original and sl leicaflexes. I think the r3 lense is a bit more contrasty, it is a canadian production. The meter is not usable though. There was a bit of machining on the rim to getit to clear the front plate of the oiginal. I have worked on both r3 and leicaflex original and I would opt for the original anytime. The r3 is a mess as far as the wiring goes the minolta xe was much neater using a flex-board instead. The materials and assembly of the original and SL are 100 times better. Where the Japanese bodies use a lot of brass and plastic Leica-Flex used steel (very durable) Even the tolerances are closer, There service manual is very exacting in adjustments. Don

I have had bronica C's and S2's I really like the nikkor lenses. They work fine but when they don't look out, KOH camera used to fix them. I had problems with the stop down ring in the lense focus helical.They responded to cleaning. The S2a had steel wind gears that held up, the brass gears in all the others were ok but don't use the wind handle, It put too much torque on the gears and shaft, I found the main drawback was the noise and vibration, we all should use a tripod anyway. The S2a model also had a S2a stamped ont dthe top rear of the body . Not all S2a's had this stamping tdhere are web sites that give the seerial number where they started using the steel gears..The problem with old age (CRS) cant remember sxtxtx...Good luck Don

The proper way to load a medalist is to open back, put film in right chamber, empty in left, run leader across to take up ,insert tapered paper into slot of empty reel, turn knob to make sure it taking up ok, (not too much), then close back being careful not to damage latch rods, slide open little bulls eye door over the red filter, continue turning while watching and stop as soon as the number (1) just starts to show in the window, Tension the shutter for the first frame only, then turn a little till the knob locks, You are now set for number one frame, From now till the end of the film as you advance the film the knob will tension automatically and lock. One other thing do not turn internal rollers by hand (note lable) A great camera. Don

My vote would have to be the Kodak Meddalist, It had some of the best glass you can get, built like a tank, but a smallish rangefinder, and the problem with the 620film size which can be overcome by respooling 120 onto a 620 reel or having it converted to 120 which is an expensive propistion. Don

Well if I remember corrrectly some of these door seals were like black string, and thats exactly what I glued in place and it worked nicely. But it has been many years ago , let me know if the doors hinge or slide..Don

Bud it is a good shutter but suffers wear when used a lot, parts are mostly brass, The least bit of grease will jam it. Parts are available so it is easy to fix.Self timer sometimes gets dirty because of it's location. I have done more repairs on yashica wind which misses a frame when grease gets hard or paws get rounded. But what a great lens...Don

I have used some filters in portraiture only when the composition warranted it, maybe a softening filter or a slight color filter to lessen facial marks or freckles etc. Let the subject dictate the needed filter or not, but for my b&w I strive for a complete gray scale..Don

Hi John: The last place I would buy is e-bay or some of the east coast stores, but not all. I have had great success with KEH camera in atlanta, The equipment I have purchased always exceeded their rating of used equipment. Don

Hello Kenneth: The srt101 102 are excellent cameras and very capable of top notch enlargements. I agree a dealer would give you next to nothing for them. My advice is to put an ad in the photo.net classifieds,I use minolta and think they are great. I used to repair cameras and know how easy it is to cla one. I went back to film after a lot of fuss with my digital camera and all it's spots showing in the prints which are dust particles on the ccd. And it isn't worth my time fixing it. Those minoltas will out last most digital cameras as long as they make 35 mm film...good luck Ken...Don

Bronica lenses have a bad habit of sticking apetures. usually cleaning will suffice..Don

HI Rebecca: I believe the name of shutter material I used to use was fairpreen..Don

I wouldn"t fear going into LF , it is a rewarding format and hobby, I have been doing camera repairs since 1965 and the only fear is that some chemicals will be regulated to death. As far as equipment goes the old stuff keep going, just cla and keep a camera boneyard for parts, or better yet get repair manuals, I got started by buying broken cameras and selling, just in case I broke something, also I got many of the Ed Romney books on camera repair. I just got fed up with how short of a time my printer lasted, I went to push the cardridge lock down and the whole transport broke off,,so much for plastic..."Also check up on the permanence of ink jet prints..I have some 16mm movies I shot and they look as good as the day I shot them. So in summary get the gear you want and stock up on paper film and chemicals and you will be doing fine...Good Luck ..Don

I have to agree with Roland, I carefully cut off the lens hood and now I can use all my 67 accessories including a larger and more effective hood. I got the camera to use not to store and look at..Don

Well Dave: I just got to use my second hand gw690 recently acquired and I was very pleased to say the least, I had been using an old Kodak Medalist till now, but that fuji lens is awesome. I could resolve things that the many others couldn't. I used f22 at 1/15 and 1/30 on a tripod. Under my microscope I couldn't detect edge falloff that would amount to much. As for the shutter , I used to repair cameras and know that a shutter in need of work usually acts up in cold temps. It was 31dgs F.not a lick of problem and the exposures were right on. Frame spacing was excellent. This spring I plan to do some color work and will test everything with high mag, and densitometer. Just maybe I will save for a Gsw..Don

Eugene: As I remember the 1000f and 1600f took series 7 filters which is a system of sizes not used today. You might find one in some old camera shop junk box. You may also find a series 7 to a mm. size filter adapter just make sure that it dosen't vignette.

A bit of advice on attaching and removing lenses from a Blad body, always have a film back on the body. Some have jammed the lense and body half way because they bumped the mechanism on the back of the lense or bumped the release lever while turning the lense. Having a back on the body with dark slide in helps prevent jamming. Don