ralf_j.

Indeed Rick, after a long day's work it is a worthy reward. As far as a the film choice goes, we expect overcast days or haze and with speed loss on the 16 year old film plus my weakened C41 developer (Already on my 8th roll with it), I should be able to manage, fingers crossed :-). BTW, I use the Unicolor package for C41 and it works like a charm, almost nothing to it. E-6 has a couple of additional steps but no problems with that kit either.

With Leather Carrying Strap

Almost done

Lens with Retaining Ring

Have been enjoying restoring simple cameras lately, the kind of cameras that some of you may just say "Why Bother!!?", but I find it relaxing when cleaning, taking them apart where possible and making them ready to shoot modern film. Example cameras I have restored/cleaned recently: Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash Kodak Brownie Starlet Spartus Co Flash Spartus Rocket Kodak Duaflex II Ansco Panda Kodak Baby Brownie Special and Vredeborch ALKA Most of these cameras are plastic with rivets galore, but with a little patience and average tools (tweezers, screw drivers etc) they can be a lot of fun to restore and use. I will show the ALKA here and some photos taken during the restoration. It was an eBay acquisition, seller was very generous and took my offer, and sent it promptly with a hand-written "thank you card", real class. The camera had definitely seen better days, but the art deco beauty is still there. This is the simplest version of this model as it only is a point and shoot, no Bulb setting, no variable aperture (water house stops) or sliding green filter. The carry strap was missing, the protective glass full of grime and when moving the camera about, something was loose inside. The shutter was good and snappy however, indicating that the spring has still may years of service in it. Onto further inspection and restoration: Wiped the outside with a soft microfiber cloth and alcohol to get excessive dirt and grime off. Removed the film carrying piece and wiped that off well with alcohol using q-tips to get in to the crevices Noticed that snap/pinch ring holding the lens in place, was crooked and the lens was the loose object rocking inside the camera Pulled the snap ring off, cleaned it, cleaned the very dirty lens (now loose in my hands) until it sparkled. Spacers in front of the lens were cleaned as well. Put the spacers back, the lens and very carefully pinched the retaining ring back in place until it was snug and the lens stayed in place Removed the front panel by lifting carefully on the sides and cleaned the metal mirrors and viewing screens and optics. (at least 3 or 4 dry carcasses of insects fell out of this place :) ) Lifted the 4 tabs holding the shutter in place and lifted it off. Cleaned that as well and installed it back in reverse order. Cleaned the protective glass on the front cover and installed it back with little effort. Made a carrying strap from scrap leather purchased from Michael's It is now ready to go and quite happy with the outcome. Have a roll of expired Portra 400VC (May 2003, refrigerated of course) which I will put through this box camera and will revert back with results. For now here are some photos of the project.

Great rescue and crisp photos

Hi AJG, i corroborate what you say, when i was callibrating the focus on taking, the image on ground glass was less than punchy, I am hoping if I keep the sun behind me and stop down to about f8 or more should keep flare at a minimum. Should not be a problem today, hopefully real Spring is upon us.

Rick, that is definitely one of the slower triotars, should be ok as long as stray light is kept away

Thank you Rick and Andrew. We had sunshine today but also crazy gale winds, perhaps tomorrow might take it out to the park. Fingers crossed

Hello - got this at the camera show in NJ. Very rough, but they seem to command high prices. This one has a very rough exterior, the viewing lens was bent inward, and the mirror, well, what mirror - horror, there was hardly any silvering left. The taking lens had fungus on rear element. I took it apart and it has been a learning experience, I would say almost therapeutic :). Ordered a mirror on eBay, and replaced it (7.95$). Took front focusing plate off and the deco cover, straightened it out the best I could. Surprised at how flimsy that metal sheet holding the lenses was, one can bend it with bare hands. BTW, shutter worked well, the only thing that was intact. Re-assembled back, cleaned lenses, re-calibrated focus. Loaded with Arista.edu 400 and ready for shooting. Will see how well it does, or how my "restore" job turned out. Stay tuned....

Hi Chuck, still around, other things in life leave little room to spend with our beloved oldies. Good to see you too

Make sense, i was looking for a set screw on collar but no luck. The focus in infinity is off. Taking lens is fine

Hello all - does anyone know how to adjust viewing lens in a prewar rolleicord ? TIA.

Makes sense. I will make adjustments going forward. Thanks for the replies

I see, this definitely has been used many times, i will extend the time next processing.

The fixer I used was indeed the Kodak Rapid fixer which says 2-4 minutes in the instructions. I guess that isn’t enough?

It was in most of the frames on this roll.

Kentmere was on the bottom of the tank. Still wondering why the top reel didnt suffer the same issues. Here is an image from the top reel.

Hi - Thanks for responding. Some more details which have me even more puzzled: this film was a Kentmere 400 which expired some time in late 2015 but it has been cold stored. I processed this in the same tank with a roll of Mitsubishi Gekko MW 100 Plus (AKA Maco UP100) in Rodinal 1:25 for ~ 7minutes and 50 seconds at 20C since the timings were almost identical. The Gekko (expired) film has also been frozen but the results from it are much better than the Kentmere (I am in the process of scanning it now) I see no bands like these so I am close to ruling out potential leaks. Agitation was the same for both films obviously since they were in the same tank, 30 secs the first min, and 8 inversion every remaining minute. I fixed it Kodak Rapid fixer with hardener for about 4 minutes. I am not sure if the Maco film chemistry negatively impacted the Kentmere emulsion? I also am noticing some faint yellowing or light brownish stains in the emulsion (not sure where that is from) however since this is B&W film, no real harm done. I washed for 10 minutes and rinsed with photo-flo. Still puzzled with Kentmere's results as I have had better luck with it in the past. Also the contrast of negatives was very low and you can see that the negatives are muddy and not sharp even though there was decent light when some of the shots were taken. Grain is expected to be higher with 400 iso film, but this was way too high. Too many variable smh! Thanks again for your thoughts and any future ideas.

Hi - need your feedback, is this a processing issue or a light leak issue? Thanks.

@ben, the camera is fine, all checks out. The edges have no manufacturing info so i am thinking the developer is shot. @John Farrell, this is the original APX 100, with a 2010 exp date, frozen kept, and still very much alive. Shoot it all the time now. @peter, that makes sense but I will still give freestyle a ring and see what they say. I have some microdol-x sealed still in powder form, from 10 years ago, i wonder how that will do, don’t think i want to risk a whole roll but may try a control strip of 3 random frames...

Hello - I have been processing my B&W for close to 17 years and this is a first. I have two Arista sealed 12oz bottles I had purchased on April 12th, 2016. They have been stored in between 62-68F all the time. I used this in the recommended 1:9 mix from the bottle instructions. The late afternoon light was perfect this Sunday and I shot a roll of apx 100. After processing in this combo for 7mins at 68F all I got was a blank negative strip :((. Correction, after very carefully looking, I can see a couple of frames with very faint tree top images, and the sun in one direct sun exposure. It was very annoying :(, probably my own doing? My go-to developer is Rodinal in 1:25, and the last bottle lasted me a good 5-6 years! Have I been spoiled by Rodinal or do you think this Arista Developer is rubbish? 2 Years and sealed, should account for some longevity, no? What do you think?

Hi Rick, ya this is my second Richter, i have the commie Reflekta after Richter went defunct with coated lenses and that one yields excellent negatives when stopped down a little, the only thing i hate is the single action shutter which requires delicate operation to avoid camera shake...

Lol

<p>Great clean photos, love the hat column Rick, catchy as always. Sorry have not been around here much, but have you given up color, especially since you are in the middle of the warm season by you?</p>