aodh_mcliam

<p>Sorry to resurrect a truly dead thread, but I need to know a bit more about these slip-on 30mm filters. I have an Agfa Isolette I (Agnar lens) for which I'd like to buy some filters, but on my focusing ring there's a protruding screw for limiting the focus, so you don't unscrew the whole element, which would ppear to prevent slipping on any filters. I've got a photo of the camera (though not terribly good for this purpose):<br>

<img src="http://matjjin-nehen.com/files/isolette.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="431" /><br>

You can see near the inf on the focusing ring the screw that sticks out significantly (about 3mm). I can also attest that it is very tightly attached (I tried to remove it once to get the whole front element off to clean out the grease which had turned to glue). Surely this screw would prevent a slip-on filter. I've never seen other isolettes like this, which is why I'm asking.<br>

You might also notice in this photo the bellows is original. I noticed after taking the first role that there were several leaks, so I got a replacement from <a href="http://workmansphotography.com">Dennis Workman</a>, which I can highly recommend.<br>

Cheers!</p>

<p>This happened to me a couple of weeks ago at a camera club. We were using fixer that was known to be getting on a bit, and leaving it to fix for a good 4-5 minutes, which worked for 3 or 4 rolls. But the 5th and 6th rolls didn't fix and we had to break out a new bottle. Does fixer go dead so suddenly? I would have thought it would get gradually less potent over a period, but not one roll to the next. The OP is much like this as well; worked for two rolls, dead by the third.</p>

<p>Or you could sell it to me; I've been craving a 17-35 f/2.8 for my F3, which lacks autofocus, but the cost of a new or even a used one is a bit prohibitive.</p>

<p>On second thought, it'd probably still be quite a bit beyond my budget.</p>

<p>If you have a business, then you could, say, photograph a wedding for a friend and charge a token amount, and bang; your lenses are tax deductible.</p>

<p>Ah, I see. I thought it might have had something to do with the light meter metering how much light was coming in at the time, but I abandoned that idea on the basis that the lens is set to maximum aperture and therefore it wouldn't know what aperture it had been set to. Makes sense.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Apologies if this has been asked, but I can't quite get the right terminology to search for it properly.</p>

<p>I've got an F3 and I've been playing around with a few lenses that I already had for my D50 (very pleasantly surprised that it supports my 50mm 1.8 D lens). I haven't come up with a problem as such, but there's something that's been bugging me about the mechanics of the meter coupling system and auto exposure.</p>

<p>The meter couopling lever, it appears, indicates to the camera the aperture that the lens has been set with; by rotating the aperture ring, the lever also moves - no worries. The aperture is then also indicated to the user by the direct readout on the lens, through the viewfinder (and another piece of the puzzle falls into place as I never knew what those smaller numbers were for). But it appears to me that the lever will only move so far in either direction.</p>

<p>If I compare my 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 with my 50mm f/1.8, the numbers indicating maximum aperture are in the same positions. That is, the 3.3 setting on the 35-70mm actuates the lever to exactly the same position as the 1.8 on the 50mm.</p>

<p>I've taken two rolls using the 50mm lens, and the exposure is excellent. I haven't tried with the 35-70, but I'm assuming it'll similarly be very good. So how on earth does the camera know what the actual aperture is? There must be some obvious piece that I haven't taken into account.</p>

<p>Yes, I found a thread on some other forum, active in the last couple of weeks in fact, with someone having the exact same problem as me. He eventually sourced some Dyneema fishing line and is satisfied with the result as it apparently has a much higher tensile strength than tungsten, and as long as it is roughly the same gauge, then it should fit fine.</p>

<p>During the call with the repair guy, I was saying that there was no intrinsic benefit to using tungsten wire above any other type of wire/line apart from the strength. His response was that Canon wouldn't have gone to the trouble of getting tungsten wire and using it in the cameras if they could have used something cheaper/more readily available. But back in the 1980s, kevlar and dyneema probably either didn't exist or were prohibitively expensive. So there's no reason (apart from being purist) not to replace it with something equally good for its purpose - especially if it's so much more common today.</p>

<p>I just rang a camera repair shop that specialises in old cameras and got told that if I was the sort of person who'd consider replacing tungsten wire with fishing line, then I'm not the sort of person that should be fixing his own cameras.</p>

<p>He also confirmed that 130 bucks was about the ballpark figure to perform such a repair. I'm of the opinion that if I'm careful, I can replace the tungsten with anything and it wouldn't damage the camera any further. Then one day in the future, if another AE-1 came up on ebay for extremely cheap, I could get it to salvage parts, such as the tungsten and the pin face screw that I ended up scratching.</p>

<p>Couldn't resist. I got the snap ring off and so on with the whole top, and discovered that the tungsten has snapped off. I guess it's at this point that I verify that I know exactly what the tungsten wire actually does. </p>

<p>My understaning is that it simply rotates the functional resistor counter-clockwise when the user selects a faster shutter speed or a higher ASA/ISO (and a spring pulls it back to rest). Doing so presumably operates the light metre and therefore the aperture. So replacing it may not be terribly difficult nor specialist, just fiddly.</p>

<p>Also, if I remove the tungsten wire altogether (with the intention to replace it later) I can just reassemble the camera as is without causing any damage to the camera, right? Of course I would only be able to use it by metering manually, but will it work?</p>

<p>Right. Hopefully it'll reinsert into the groove on the underside of the washer fairly simply, and hasn't been damaged. In fact I hope I haven't damaged anything at all, in case I want to get it to a professional to fix. It's too nice a camera to be left to the scrap heap.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help, but I'm going to leave it for now and give myself a break. I might also try to get to a hardware and find a pair of snap ring pliers. This snap ring is a real pain.</p>

<p>Ahm I see. You freaked me out for a minute there, because the washer in mine is black. Here's what I could manage as an exploded image of the assembly:<br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4949760735_05e571bb0c_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4949760735_05e571bb0c_b.jpg</a><br>

But the washer came out without any resistance, without removing the top. See in another photo, in fact, go to this page to see all three:<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidhoss/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidhoss/</a><br>

I'm trying to see what might have kept the washer in place that would require the removal of the top cover, but I can't figure it out. Unless the tungsten wire originally went over the washer.</p>

<p>Here's the mechanism underneath the Tv ring; never having seen it in a diagram or anything, I can't tell if anything is awry.<br>

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/4950320284_1b50564f93_b.jpg</p>

<p>I got the pin face screw off with a finely crafted keyring clipped to size, and a pair of flat-nosed pliers holding it in the right position. When I got down to removing the Tv ring, I hesitated a bit, concerned about the tungsten as mentioned above, but went for it. I heard a rapid unwinding sound, probably took a quarter of a second. I presume that was the tungsten.</p>

<p>I'm not quite sure what to do now; I still can't get the snap ring off, but do I need to? The issue is likely to be underneath the Tv dial, right? Or do I have to realign the 'functional resistor' which is underneath the film rewinder?</p>

<p>I've just realised that... if I need to set the ASA to 3200 and the Tv to B in order to unscrew the Tv dial without snapping the tungsten wire, then this causes a problem. If my suspicions are correct and the ASA dial/TV dial are out of alignment, then the tungsten wire would likely be under tension with those settings. </p>

<p>I'm also having trouble getting the right tools. It looks as though I'll need a pin-face wrench - they're available on Ebay it appears, but the pin face screw on the canon is smaller in dimensions than those available - and some snap ring pliers, since I definitely do not want to damage this camera. I took a closer look the other day and I can't see a single bit of scuff, a scratch, or any damages whatsoever. This camera is mint.</p>

<p>Thanks for the link Richard, but the scan quality is very poor and it's difficult to make out the diagrams. HS, could you post your link as well? It might be better quality. While I'm on the topic, does anyone have a repair manual for the Nikon F3?</p>

<p>Goodness! A bit of success.</p>

<p>I got the camera back unrepaired today (and paid 15 bucks for them to quote me - thieves) and I was just sitting down to try out taking it apart myself, as per your instructions, HS.</p>

<p>Anyway, I set the ASA to 3200 and the Tv dial to B and lo and behold, the light metre reads 11 when facing a bright light. Obviously this is grossly under what it should be, and indicates to me that indeed, the ASA dial has been shifted incorrectly and I'll just need to reset it as you point out.</p>

<p>SoHS, could you please <a href="../shared/comm-to-member?user_id=6184337">email me</a> the instructions on how I can get the speed dial off? I've looked around the web for a repair manual for the AE-1, but have found only rubbish being sold for ten bucks.</p>

<p>You should get a 50mm 1.4 prime lens for excellent portraits in low light. Compared with the 17-55, the cost is next to nothing. And it's so small and light that it'll fit in that little nook in your camera bag and never cause a fuss.</p>

<p>I love that lens.</p>

<p>The repair is going to cost $130 AU. This is more than the cost of a fairly good AE-1 to be fair. I'll attempt your suggestion HS, but I'm not spending that much to fix it right now.</p>

<p>Yeah, and it's a damn beauty. My girlfriend got it for my birthday and I love it.<br>

I also just got a Nikon F3HP, but it's an ugly mofo, big and heavy, but I love it too. It's got exposure lock, multiple exposure lever and manual exposure compensation from about -2 to +2. Also it fits all the glass I bought for my D50.</p>

<p>Thanks for the instructions HS. I've already taken it to a shop for a quote. If the quote's too much, I'll give that a go.</p>

<p>I've tried a new battery, but the behaviour is exactly the same. I've also tried engaging the stop-down lever and disengaging again, but to no avail. <br>

Next question, does anyone know a place in Sydney that's familiar with the AE-1?</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. <br>

The 'M' flashes fine when the lens is off the A setting, so I suppose this indicates that the lens and body are communicating well, as it were, and the stop-down lever isn't engaged, though I haven't tested this out yet (I just leave it in the disengaged position all the time).<br>

I'll buy a new battery, but it appears the battery level is fine; the manual says the higher the needle on the scale, the lower the battery level, so I'm assuming between 2.8 and 4 indicates a good amount of battery life left.<br>

I checked the ASA dial after posting the OP, and it appears that what I noticed was that it was stuck in a raised position used to change film sensitivity, so, right, perhaps it has been misaligned. <br>

When I get home, I'll try a new battery.</p>

<p>I bought an AE-1 at a camera market a few weeks ago, but recently it began to not work.<br>

The shutter still works, but light metering doesn't anymore. The red LED light below the meter just flashes. I have the lens on A mode, and I've tested all different light conditions. The battery is fine (battery test gives between 2.8 and 4 on the meter).<br>

When this first happened, I inspected the shutter speed ring a bit, and found that it had been lifted away from the camera body a bit, and a while later I managed to force it back down. This is quite different from it being lifted to set the film sensitivity; the whole chrome ring was lifted, exposing some components in the ring's selection action.<br>

Any ideas?</p>