paul_carpenter1

<p>Thanks for the advice! Good idea on making sure to ask the sellers - from what I've heard back on so far in eBay auctions, there is indeed a bit of baggage that goes along with "working" and "functioning."</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. Luckily I managed to gain access to the workshop at my local college, where the resident tinkerer and I have spent the last couple of days opening the whole thing up and cleaning it out. Hopefully I'll be able to have it all put together and working by tomorrow.<br>

That's an excellent idea on the rangefinder. How much did you snag yours for? Do you have any brand advice? Does a rangefinder off of a 35mm camera work fine with a medium-format? (I assume the answer to the last question is yes, but I just want to be sure.)</p>

<p>Hi everyone, I'm new both around here and to medium format photography in general. <br /> <br />I recently snared myself the Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 with an f/3.5 lens and a Compur-rapid shutter that goes up to 1/400s. By and large the camera is in pretty good shape, but I would like to make sure it's in the best shape possible for when I start shooting with it. Here's a list of some questions I have: <br /> <br />Shutter. <br />The shutter has a constant speed, no matter whether the setting it at 1 second or 1/200th. All of the indicated speeds within that range run at about 1/30th of a second. It's only when I push it to the indicated 1/400th that I get a faster response time, and even then it doesn't quite look fast enough; my guess would be somewhere between 1/100th and 1/200th. <br />I've read that a bit of shutter cleaning should clear this up; however, the is no obvious way to remove the lens from the shutter. Does anyone have any advice on how to do that, and then also on what techniques I should use while cleaning the shutter? <br /> <br />Lens. <br />Similarly, I would like to get in and clean the lens a bit. The front element was easily unscrewed and I got a fair bit of dust and gunk out of it. However, on the inner surface of the element behind the front, there is a bit of gunk, and the inside of the rear element is rather fogged. Has anyone here ever opened this lens before? If so, could you help me figure out what to do? <br /> <br />Focusing. <br />Finally, the camera seems to have lost any markings that show where the focus is. The focus ring still has markings from 5ft to inifinity, but there is no line or indicator on the non-rotating part of the lens to reference where I should be taking focus from. If anyone else has this camera, I would love to see a picture to know where I should put my mark. <br /> <br />Finally, just a shot in the dark: does anyone recommend any vintage camera repair shops in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota? If any of these steps requires more than unscrewing a few parts, I would rather have a professional check this out. <br /> <br />Check out the camera at <a href="http://www.craftycarpenter.com/nettar/nettar.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.craftycarpenter.com/nettar/nettar.jpg</a></p>