dan_daniel2

8 hours ago, John Seaman said:

I think he means the frame counter window, not a red window for seeing the numbers on the film, which of course the Vb lacks. There were indeed two models of the Vb. This question has already been addressed in another thread:

Ok, sorry that I don't keep up on every thread here or every other forum to understand the backstory of new posts.

Going just on what is said in this thread, someone who 'is very used to this model' would know that it has an automatic frame counter. I'll assume some sort of miscommunication between the repairman and the OP, or by the OP here.

Anyway, re using the frame counter numbers in the 'window': the number spacing, small amount of counter dial movement per frame, and the number design don't offer a consistent marker point to get even frame spacing on this camera using the 'window' as a winding indicator. Most likely overlap would occur at some point(s) in the roll.

There are a few possible causes of the frame counter not stopping in a Rolleicord Vb (Va has the same system). I do have knowledge of this but I bet you can find it discussed in a post sometime in the last fifteen years so I won't clog up the forum.

 

Is this really a Vb? That is a very late Rolleicord model with no window for seeing frame numbers.

Maybe you are using 'Rolleicord VB' as a generic name for all Rolleicords, and that it is model 1, the first version of this line? If so, well, 'Vb' is a model designation. Yours would be a 'Rolleicord I.'

<p>Yeah, forget using the viewing lens as a protective filter. Hold on to it and some day you'll find an orphaned taking lens and make a set for a decent price.</p>

<p>My solution for a protective filter on my 2,8C was to grind down a clear glass filter. Here's a thread elsewhere that shows this-<br /> http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122243&highlight=dremel</p>

<p>The reason I did this is because I like to carry the camera with lens hood in place while in a small bag. I started out removing the hood and putting the cap in place whenever I was putting the camera in the bag. But I ended up dropping the hood or cap a few times, putting my finger on the viewing or taking lens, etc. (I shoot in the street and such, so waiting to be at a quiet table isn't always an option).</p>

<p>I also made a cap for the hood. The one problem with this system is that there isn't the automatic safety to prevent you shooting with the lens cap in place because the viewing lens is covered. A few lost shots taught me soon enough to check.</p>

<p>Just get it over with and get a Rolleiflex. It's like buying a tripod- you can buy the right one in the beginning and pay $XXX. Or you can try to get a cheap one and end up with 5 tripods and still buy the right one in the end, but you've spent 3x $XXX to get to the same place.</p>

<p>Or get a Hasselblad if interchangeable lenses are important.</p>

<p>There are so many nice medium format cameras and systems. For quality construction, elegance, compact, light weight (relatively), and vintage look, the Rollei or Hassy are where you will end up so just get it over with.</p>

<p>steve mareno- the reason I made that filter was because I like to carry the camera in a bag with the hood attached, rather than have to take the hood on and off (and lens cap off and on) as I move the camera from and to the bag. I also made a 'lens cap' for the hood to protect the taking lens from dust while in the bag. So the filter and hood as you see it in the photos are on the camera almost all the time.</p>

<p>Just a personal preference, coming from a bit of obsession about lens scratches and a bit of clumsy fingers dropping the lens cap and/or too many times while changing them over.</p>

<p>The answer on opening up Rollei Bay filters-<br>

http://www.flickr.com/groups/rolleiflexandrolleicord/discuss/72157632555753989/</p>

<p>The source is a seller on Ebay who very nicely offered this info for posting on Flickr, so I will maintain the link rather than post the info here.</p>

<p>I bought a cheap Bay III glass filter and took a sanding drum to it to shape it. On a Dremel tool. The lens hood also needed a little section taken back. Here's the result:</p>

<p><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2691/5864915551_2c791acb2d_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="461" /></p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3283/5865467016_50f6aac4ff_z.jpg" alt="" width="476" height="640" /></p>

<p>I'm sure you could do something similar to a Rollei filter.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The aperture markings are set by the very very small screw on the front ring of the lens. On my Summicron-C, it is between the serial number and the 'S' of Summicron. Take this out and you can rotate the dot, I beleive, or maybe it was the numbers that rotate?</p>

<p>My 40mm was off, but only by half a stop. Here's a link ot some discussion-<br>

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128987</p>

<p>And another person's info on the 40mm-<br>

http://jumboprawn.net/jesse/cams/gear-profiles/leica-summicron-40mm.html</p>

<p>Be careful about losing the front screw and the detent ball bearing. I work over a towel so things don't bounce away.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I had one of these with a 7.5cm Tessar. It had bad bellows so I moved the lens and shutter onto a TLR body. The lens is wonderful! Prone to flare and veiling, but away from the light it is sharp and smooth.</p>

<p>Parallax is always a problem with anything other than through-the-lens viewing. If you are looking for precise framing and focus, this isn't the camera to get. Most of the 6x6 SLR systems have 6x4.5 backs available (in theory at least). Bronica, Pentax, Mamiya, Contax- all made native 6x4.5 format systems. </p>

<p>First, what about the shutter in the first Rolleicord? Why not put it into this much nicer body and be done with it? Then send the bad one off to Ebel or such and get an estimate.</p>

<p>Second, I would trust Ebel to know what the potential problems could be with a shutter. My limited experience says that the timing pin may have come off of the escapement, although how this could happen I do not know. Anyway, either it is a simple thing with, say, the timing ring not engaging, or something very bad happened.</p>

<p>Search around and you'll find photos of the Compur and Compur Rapid shutter parts. Study them and study what you actually have inside yours, see what pin isn't in the right place, etc. Remove the shutter from the body and plan on a few days of soaking in naphtha. Be patient. I went through two weeks of soakings and flushings on a Synchro-Compur and it finally came back and is still going fine two years later. Keep changing the fluid.</p>

<p>You can get a Compur Rapid down to just the aperture blades still in the body; I'd suggest not removing them unless you are very steady and very patient. There is a ring buried inside the shutter, around the inner opening for the lens, that rotates to cause the blades to open and close. I've had to go inside to get this ring out and be able to clean the crud out of its track. And be gentle with the escapement when it is out of the shutter body. Make notes of shutter blade orientations and locations, etc.</p>

<p>Plan on destroying the shutter, so unless you can afford to lose it, don't do it.</p>

<p>Most likely a K4. Third camera down on this page-<br>

http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/automat.shtml</p>

<p>A Rolleiflex Automat.</p>

<p>By the way, that might be a cable release socket on the lower focus-knob side of the lens board, not a flash sync socket.</p>

<p>Is the T on the lens red? It's probably the symbol for a coated lens.</p>

<p>Getting an instruction manual for a different model is common. </p>

<p>If it's a Tessar, it is Bay I (one). That is the size for lens caps, filters, hoods, etc.</p>

<p>DRP/DRGM was used up until about 1949. Not certain of the exact dates of the change to DBP/DBGM, but it was used after the war.</p>

<p>A photo is best for ID. If it is a 3.5, not a 2.8, this will show you a variety of models-<br /> http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/automat.shtml<br /> Look at the style of the shutter release and its lock; the style and color of the dials for shutter and aperture; the style of any self-timer or flash sync lever; if the view finder has a sports finder.</p>

<p>If the camera is a 2.8 Tessar, look here-<br /> http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/A-F_tlr.shtml</p>

<p>Oh, if it IS a 2.8 Tessar, it is Bay II (two), not one. But it takes a unique lens hood.</p>

<p>Serial number lists are usually somewhat flawed. Rollei was a busy busy company in the '50s, changing parts and such all the time.</p>

<p>More importantly, is it working?</p>

<p>Yes, be sure to rotate the crank backwards after winding. And at first, go ahead and flip the crank over so the knob rests in the hole. This way you can be certain that the crank hasn't been moved forward. Even though it won't wind, it can lock the shutter if it is bumped forward from its ideal back-wound resting spot.</p>

<p>Poke around, but the Leica CL viewfinder is about a 35mm view if you go to the edges? Look for a body with a broken meter (not hard to find) and the VC 35mm Skopar.</p>

<p>Will a small (very small- 00 or smaller) fit in the hole? Or whittle a toothpick down. Split the tip, like a writing quill.</p>

<p>As someone who has dealt with tape residue and such on a variety of surfaces for years, I have three recommendations:</p>

<p>1) Use another tape. Seriously, take a piece of tape and stick its adhesive side on the residue. Pull up. Repeat and repeat.</p>

<p>2) Paint thinner- test first.</p>

<p>3) Naphtha (lighter fluid or Coleman white gas camp stove fuel)- very safe for most plastics and paints.</p>

<p>Since no one mentioned it- the Rolleiflexes and 'Cords that CAN use a Rolleifix have a groove in the large silver metal ring on the bottom. The Rolleifix slides into this groove and pulls the base to its cast metal base.</p>

<p>Pre-WWII and soon after the war, Rolleis did have this groove in the base, so a Rolleifix can't be used.</p>

<p>The groove was added about the time that the 2.8C came out. I think that Rollei offered either replacement backs or replacement silver metal base peices to convert older cameras, in case oyu run into an older one that will take a Rolleifix.</p>

<address> </address>

<p>Willem Smelik, there are photos of the proper C & D strap connectors in this thread-</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/medium-format-photography-forum/00TQxP</p>

<p>The side with the black stripes faces to the outside. That plate passes to the *outside* of the slot in the lug. The opening goes over the pin on the camera. You then slide the back piece down and its tab slides into the slot, securing the strap (yes, it seems flimsy at first look, but it works fine).</p>

<p>Most typical straps will fit through the opening in the strap lug. No need to hunt down the special strap connectors for the C. Even if you find one, you'll need to replace the leather before using- 60 year old leather is dry and it will snap and drop the camera to the sidewalk (a lesson I learned with a Rolleicord).</p>

<p>Personally, I like the Op/tech 'pro loop' connectors- thin fabric-type connectors that drop away from the hood as I lift up the camera.</p>

Lens shade, yes. Fotodiox sells a nice metal one if you can't find a decent price on a Rollei one.

 

Be gentle cleaning it. Xenotars are known for softer coatings.... well, many lenses from that time period are known for that.

 

The Xenotar on my 2.8C can render things far better than I can see, it seems.

I bought a Bay III hood from Fotodiox. All metal (the Bay II version has a metal mount but a plastic hood section).

 

http://fotodioxpro.com/index.php/catalogsearch/result/?q=bay+iii+hood

 

I've bought a filter from Puffypen- clean, etc.

By the way, Rollei did refer to its 16-exposure setup as 4x5.5, not 6x4.5, 4.5x6, or 645. That is the nomenclature on the mask sets for converting Rolleicords and Ts and in the literature.

 

The actual image area dimensions of my Rolleicord film mask insert is 40mm by 53 (52.5?)mm. This is for the part that goes into the film chamber itself. By the way, this stock insert has 4 notches, two on the top and bottom edges, marking the cropping for 4x4 super slides. And its 53mm dimension is ~2mm smaller per side than the stock camera film opening. This might tell you if someone did a nice job melding a mask into place, or if a different modification was done.

Here's the inside of the Yashica-Mat. Pretty much the same idea on the 124. In my photo the gear that drives the film spool is missing-

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18067251@N04/4303120642/in/set-72157624555271098

 

 

The spool gear is driven by the gear to its right which is driven by the wind lever.

 

 

From your video it's obvious that something is wrong. When you take the spool out and play with the drive shaft on the right side (wind side) inside the film chamber, does it move back and forth? Can you push it away, fiddle it back out, feel it dropping into place as it slips bewtween the gears next to it? There is a heavy metal spring washer that sits on top of the gear and holds it in place. Without this washer, that gear could slip up and out of engagement with the next gear driving it.

 

 

That's the first thing I would check.

<p>Here's a photo of the inside of the lens shroud of an Autocord. The left side is the taking lens, with the levers rotating theose gears. As the lever is moved and the lower gears rotate, the upper gear is turned and the shutter speed (or aperture) indicator plate moves accordingly.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5201/5352403501_171f86dd99_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="513" /></p>

<p>There is a retaining ring for both sets of gears. One thing to watch for is that the retaining ring is threaded into the filter bayonet flange. And on the back side of this flange are three very very small springs that press on the three very very small ball bearings that capture filters. So be sure to have the shroud face-down on a table when unscrewing the retaining ring, and lift the gears and the shroud slowly away from the filter flange.</p>

<p>Re-assembly has been trial and error for me to get the indicators in the right position. </p>

<p>What happens at B/bulb? Does the shutter open for Bulb at the extreme end of travel? Just trying to troubleshoot if it is the indicator only, or something more.</p>

<p>It is possible for the internal gears that drive the indicators to be put together wrong. I guess it would be possible for them to jump under use.</p>

<p>The Mamiya is bigger and has interchangeable lenses. The Rolleiflex is smaller, more 'elegant' in finish and use, but is limited to one lens.</p>

<p>That price for the K4A is decent IF it is in good shape. I can't speak to Mamiya prices.</p>

<p>If they both work, they will both give you good photos. But what's the rush? There are lots of TLRs in this world. Figure out more of what you want before dropping money.</p>