christer_medin1

Thank you! I removed the three set screws and slid the ring down a bit. Underneath were three more screws and guess what? One of those was loose and that was the problem. Everything is good now. I owe you one.

Hello, Posted on the Leica forum about this a while ago but nobody had any advice so trying here as well. I have an APO-Telyt-R 180/3,4 in very good condition and produces some excellent images on my Nikon Z bodies. However the front section is a bit "wobbly" and I'd like to address that issue. I'm thinking that there are screws you can get to from the front somehow, but all I see is a notched retaining ring right by the front element, and the notches are basically covered by another ring above it; this one lacking any notches or other visible means of removal. Have searched for repair/service manuals or part diagrams but no luck so far. Anyone have a diagram over the construction or knowledge as to how it's assembled? The front section that's loose is the last couple of inches or so where two parts of the barrel join together. I can wiggle it and open up around a 1mm gap when doing so which obviously isn't ideal.

There are a bunch of people doing this--seen some discussions on the LF forum as well as photrio. Some guys are doing sheet film development by inspection using trays and IR goggles. It's a pretty clever cheat code.

Yep, it's the coupling post that is busted. And it is because it's a rare lens that I want it to be fully functional. I honestly never even knew about this coupling post until a few weeks after purchase I tried to use it on my Z6 with the FTZ adapter and it failed to work. Not sure where I could send it here in Sweden to be honest. Nikon didn't want to work on it and the smaller repair shops I asked about seemed to be uncomfortable with the superteles. I've disassembled and reassembled a few other lenses before so if it's a moderately simple operation I'd feel comfortable doing it, but if I need special competence or tools then I'd rather outsource it. Maybe I should try Nikon again now that I have the part? It was a nightmare to track down so I'd like to make use of it!

Hello! I purchased a somewhat rare grey version of the 500 AF-S II a while back, but it had a damaged aperture ring (the small protruding part that pushes down the button on certain bodies). After much ado I managed to track down a replacement part. However I am a little uncertain as to how complex an operation it is to replace this component. Anybody here familiar with these?

OK, so progress of some sort being made. Here's what I have concluded at this point. The part marked A is the source of the "bad" noise. When winding the part above it with cogs partway around slips across the point of part A in an unpleasant sounding way. It then ratches back smoothly. If I turn part B a bit (against spring tension) and then wind it makes the "right" noise (letting part A swing a bit counterclockwise), with a smooth ratcheting sound. However when you release the winding lever it pushes A back into the position above where it's held by B and there's nothing in the mechanism that appears to change that. I also noticed that the barrel for the screw holding A is bent a bit, and looking closely at the bottom plate there's a small dent around there. So I guess it's been dropped at some point. Also, the rewind button appears to do nothing. Am I possibly missing a part or two in here?

Hm, I think my reasoning may have been off. Was reading some camera repair info and the take up spool itself should have a little "give" in it since it has to account for an increasing diameter as the film spools onto it. The cogged part next to it is what should not slip, and doesn't. It still doesn't sound "right" since it's a rough grinding feeling when winding but I can no longer point out a particular fault related to it. The shutter seems to be pretty stuck, so I am going to try to clean it with some alcohol (it worked on an ML-35 recently) to see if it'll come loose. There's a small lever on the bottom of the lens/shutter assembly that's being pushed over when winding, and when firing the shutter it barely moves a millimeter. Looks like it should snap back at least 10-12mm to close the gap to the rest of the mechanism.

Thanks! I also found this Youtube video of the Fujica S which turned out to be VERY similar construction wise. Thanks to that I managed to remove the casing entirely. Now I am stuck on the ratcheting mechanism for the take up spool though. It looks like the winding crank shaft goes down into the spool, then comes out the bottom to connect to the frame counter dial and shutter cocking mechanism. But I don't see a way to get into the spool itself to investigate. It's somewhere inside there the noise appears to originate from, and it's the component that slips / skips a few cogs.

I am guessing not since I've scoured the net unsuccessfully, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Have one here with a winder that skips a bit. It's not worth sending off for a CLA and I doubt I could find anyone here willing to work on it even if I tried. Found a link with some pictures of a disassembled Half 2.8 and it looks like you can get into it at least partially from the front, however the 1.9 is a slightly different design. Advice?

How are the light seals looking? If you decide not to send it off for a CLA it might be worth redoing them yourself. It's usually a pretty simple task and can avoid annoying light leaks along the edges.

How are they Canon Demis? One for sale here for a reasonable price, shutter just serviced (I gather this is a common problem area).

Yes, I got it with the 35 and 90 (which I am selling since I don't care for that focal length). Gotta figure out a slight wobble in the lens barrel of the 35, but that's all part of the fun. The optics are excellent. According to the serial # the SL2 is from the batch made in 1976 mixed in with non-MOT SL2s and not from one of the dedicated serial # batches.

Assuming I can locate some film before the weekend (may have to stoop to purchasing a disposable camera and extracting the film from that) it will be one of the two below. The 35RC was the reason I bought a large lot of miscellaneous gear, and it was every bit as nice as I'd hoped. Ordered a new light seal kit for it since it's a cheap, easy thing to do, but overall it seems in excellent mechanical condition, including the light meter. The SL2 MOT was bought to resell but now that I am holding it in my hands I think it might stick around for a while. It's a heavy beast but just oozes mechanical quality.

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out. The inner/lower part of the lens hood had a very thin ring you could unscrew, then slide the trim ring+barrel in and reattach. It now works, though I wonder why the heck someone took it apart to begin with! Sorry for all the help threads posted lately, just got back into analog gear and going through a big pile of acquired equipment (couple of estate sales). I have a 2-cam Summicron-R 90 as well as what appears to be two pieces of a sliding lens hood. I figured that the front trim ring unscrews, the two pieces of hood fit into each other, the entire mess is shoved onto the lens and the trim ring reattached. Works fine, the hood slides out like I'd expect, however it seems to keep me from hitting infinity focus. I really don't see a way to get a better fit since the lip of the trim ring has to sit above the inner/lower hood piece and at that point there's simply not enough space left on the barrel for the hood (short by about 1-1.5mm). What the heck am I missing here?! If you look at the first image, there's a felt ring on the inside and that part sticks out a couple of mm too far past the barrel of the trim ring for the entire mess to be screwed down all the way while retaining infinity focus.

Is that the 50/2,8 Domiplan? I have one on a Nova B I just brought back to life and it works like a champ. Aperture blades look clean as a whistle too!

Well, in that case either would work fine certainly. Was not aware of the bridge circuit so used a 675 in mine.

Where do you see this information? From the manual: "The automatic exposure system is powered by a Mallory mercury batteri PX 13, PX 625 or any other corresponding type having a nominal voltage of 1.35V". I've seen a couple of camera sites claim V625 but I'd be more inclined to trust the camera manual. :)

You can find the manual here: https://www.cameramanuals.org/praktica_pdf/praktica_ltl.pdf The battery should be a PX625 1.35 volt which is not going to be easy to find these days. However you can buy a 675 size hearing aid battery (they are very cheap) of the zinc-air type which outputs a steady 1.4 volt which is certainly close enough. You need to put an O-ring or something around it though since it's not quite as wide as the PX625. I use some playdough as a spacer which works fine... I have an LTL sitting right next to me. It's a solidly built piece; the only thing I don't like is the positioning of the meter lever. I understand it was so you can easily push it, but it sits a little too close to the shutter button for my taste.

No worries, I was mostly interested in finding out whether it just needs a CLA or if something was actually broken.

Progress has been made! I recalled reading somewhere that on some old Prakticas you could "unstick" things a bit by winding while pressing down the shutter. Now the winding mechanism turns the take up spool, the second curtain locks into place nicely, rewind button pops right back up when you start winding. However! The right side curtain doesn't want to move further than to the edge of the opening, and the mirror doesn't want to come down. However unlike before where it refused to move down, now it'll snap down if you carefully poke a little lever out of the way. I imagine this lever is tied to the shutter curtain mechanism in some manner. Anything I can try before attempting to pop the top off at this point? edit: So, it appears "fixed"! I noticed when firing it over and over that each time the shutter curtain crept a millimeter or so further. Just kept at it while switching between fast and slow shutter speeds. Suddenly it went all the way across and the mirror popped down. Could it be that the shutter curtain was just sticking to itself on the spool? Either way, works nicely now, even the slow speeds look just fine.

So I've popped off the film gate and a small metal plate inside below the winding mechanism. Attaching photos. One of the shutter curtains seems to be stuck open. When I wind the second one slides across nicely but never catches and snaps back. I see no movements in the gears/cogwheels that appear attached to the film takeup spool when winding. Interesting: the rewind button popped up at some point during this operation, however it made no difference in functionality. I pushed it back down and now I can't convince it to pop up again (closing / reopening back, wiggling button while doing so etc).

I imagine a wealthy person would just get an M10 or M10R, why settle for less than the "real thing"?

Make sure to read up on all the interlocks so you don't end up standing there scratching your head when it won't fire.

Looks like maybe a small spanner wrench might work? If not I have plenty of flathead screwdrivers to sacrifice! :-)

I think it's just poorly written and a bit confusing. The rangefinder looks to be working as you'd expect.