stephen_mcateer

Yes — I was surprised the price was so reasonable. Hopefully they'll do a good job.

@Niels - NHSN I haven't done an infinity test yet but it's on my to-do list. As you say, the picture of the light is in focus, yet the other one isn't — I therefore suspect it's just my wonky eyes that are at fault. i'll know when I get the next roll of film back from the lab I suppose. [Incidentally, I found a saddler and have sent the Rollei strap to him to have the leather replaced. It was only £25.]

Follow-up to the above post: I had the lens of my Rollei cleaned. It seems to be better — the contrast looks better to me, though I've only put one roll of Portra through it. I took a repeat shot of the light below, to compare before and after cleaning. I don't see any flare in the After shot. [Though the exposure wasn't the same, or at least there wasn't as much light in the sky. Not sure how much difference that wouldl make.] Anyway, I'll keep assessing the results I get from this camera. As an aside, 6x6 is my favourite format and I particularly like TLRs, [And the Planar 'Look'] so I think I'll keep this camera. On another note, one picture I took [Below] was pretty badly out of focus, despite taking time when I shot it to make sure it was in focus. I'm not certain if the problem is my eyes, the lens maybe not having been reassembled correctly by the repairer, or the new focus screen I put in it.

I will go now and look into that thanks Niels.

Yes — I'm in the UK and it looks like Gold is ~£50 for 5 rolls of 120, versus ~£80 for Portra 400. (I'm thinking I might try a roll of Portra 160 and see how I get on with it. The slower shutter speeds it would require is what put me off up till now.)

Update: The UpStrap wuoldn't fit so I put the original leather Rollei one back on. It looks to be in reasonable condition. I'll just be careful with it I suppose. [Not sure I would entirely trust a Chinese one, mainly because the scissors clips are an unknown quantity.]

These photographs look fine to me Niels. I don't see any problem, though I would have expected something to show up. (I'm off to check the price of Gold 200 — it has to be cheaper than Portra 400, which is what I've been using lately / £14 per roll.)

@Niels - NHSN Thanks Niels — will go & take look. As for my own Rollei, I got it back from the repairers and they managed to clean the haze off. The taking lens looks pretty clean to me. I now have some film in it. Will post results here for comparison / before & after cleaning.

@robert_bowring Noted thanks Robert. I'm going to see if an UpStrap will fit. Cheers.

@Niels - NHSN Thanks Niels. Yes it is a clever design. The leather on my strap is reasonable but not great. As I said above, I'm not completely comfortable with trusting a camera that's worth this much to it. I think I might remove an UpStrap from one of my other film cameras and see if it'll fit through the gap in the lugs. (I'm thinking the main reason for removing the strap frequently would be to put the ever-ready case on the camera — maybe I can just live without the case…)

Thanks for that. I'll look for Tamrac straps and see what I can find. (I use UpStrap straps on my other cameras and they're great.) The leather on my original Rollei strap looks okay but I'm not completely sure about trusting a camera worth this much to it.

@John Seaman Yes — I found myself doing that too. I just never feel 100% sure that I've engaged the scissor locks correctly. (There's also the fact that the strap / locks are probably 50+ years old.)

The design of the strap connectors on my Rolleiflex 3.5F seems to me to be over-engineered. I'm not sure I trust them. Does anyone know of an alternative method of attaching a strap to these cameras, or am I worrying too much? Thanks.

Ah. Okay. I wondered about that. Hopefully it'll be the surfaces that are open to air. I'll update this thread once I have the camera back.

Interesting. I don't think I've owned a lens that had separation, so I'm not sure I would know what to look for. From what you say Niels, I suppose there will be glue holding the various elements of my own Rollei lens together, and if there is, how would someone go about cleaning haze from there? Does the glue have to be removed and re-applied? (I'm going to go & Google that.) Thanks.

@john_stockdale2 Interesting., thanks John. I've heard that elsewhere too, including on this thread. I'm just going to stick with this 3.5F — it does everything I need.

(Note: I did a quick review of this camera on my blog in case anyone is interested in seeing it. Link: https://stephenmcateer.com/2023/09/30/rolleiflex-3-5f-planar-quick-review/ )

@Niels - NHSN Niels — thanks for all of that information. Very useful. It's difficult for me to tell where in the lens assembly the haze is exactly. (I realise the photos of the haze I posted aren't that great.) I hadn't heard of that problem. The possibility that it might be separation hadn't occurred to me either. Yes — I think I'll send it away and see what the repairer says. It's otherwise in almost-new condition. Besides which, I like this camera a lot. Cheers.

@Niels - NHSN @orsetto Just to update this thread — I inspected the lens of this Rollei and it's not very clean after all. I see what looks like (Maybe) finger grease on the front element and perhaps some haze somewhere in the inner elements but its difficult to say if that's the case or not. (I also see some dust but that's normal I think.) I think my first step is to clean the front element of any grease that might be on there (Need to Google how to do that properly), then see if there is haze. Not sure what I do if there is haze — send it to get cleaned? Is it possible to remove haze? (Pics below.)

You're right Niels. I've bought quite a few duds on eBay over the years — haze (Difficult for sellers to spot this uness they know to look for it) ; sticky shutters; cleaning marks; paint wear — none of which were listed in the description.

Thanks Niels. It's an estate clearance, so history / seller rating is not available. (And I don't think there's a return option.) As I said to John, above, the upside is low pricing. I'm going to put in a low bid and see what happens I think. Cheers.

Thanks John. You're right — whatever it is, that mark won't affect performance, which is the main thing. As for the other functions — there's no detail in this listing and I can't get one. On the upside, price should be low on account of that. Cheers.

@John Seaman Thanks John. Having looked more closely at this pic of the lens, I notice a faint three-pronged shape at the top right, just to the right of the white mark — I'm wondering if that's some sort of fungus? (I'm also wondering what that white mark might be…) I don't know. This camera looks like it has seen lots of use, but if it's cheap enough I might take a punt on it.

I see a mamiya 6 for sale on an online auction site. There's only one detailed photo of the lens (See below) and I'm finding it difficult to judge whether or not it's worth bidding on. The rest of the camera is pretty rough but it might be available for a good price. (I'm not concerned about cosmetics, as long as it works.) What do you think? Thanks in advance.

Update: I decided to go anead and get an Oleson screen. It arrived today. Fitting was a simple two-minute job. I'm very happy with this new screen — where the original Rollei screen was pretty dark in the corners, this one is brighter all over, maybe by as much as a stop or even more than that. Illumination is even across the entire area of the screen. The variant I purchased has grid lines and a microprism centre-spot. There are many others. The microprism seems to be good for fine focus adjustments. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this screen. It makes my camera much more pleasant to use. (I'm posting a photo of the view through my Rollei's finder with the Oleson screen fitted. It didn't occur to me until it was too late to make before and after photos.)