Yashica Electro 35, Tri-X
09
May 12
Removing Haze from Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron Lens
As mentioned in my previous write-up, my Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron was plagued by haze on the internal elements which caused fairly bad flare in images taken with it, particularly when shot toward any bright light. It’s a common ailment with this particular lens, and can ruin what is otherwise an excellent performer. With this in mind, I decided to tackle stripping down and cleaning the lens myself. Fortunately, the whole process turned out to be relatively easy.
The dismantled lens. The lens cap is useful for holding the removed screws.
Removing a couple of screws from the rear of the lens mount allows the entire lens module and diaphragm assembly to be removed from the lens body. I then used a rubber sink stopper to unscrew the rear lens module, giving me access to the internal surfaces for cleaning. I didn’t want to remove the diaphragm mechanism because I’d heard horror stories about reassembling it correctly, so I set it to the largest opening and carefully used a Q-tip with a few drops of lens cleaning fluid to treat the inside of the front element.
I accessed the inner front element through the aperture diaphragm
All the glass cleaned up remarkably well and, after getting rid of any stray dust using a Rocket blower, I put it all back together. The lens now looks great. There is a small area on the inner rear element that proved pretty stubborn, so a tiny amount of haze is still visible on careful inspection, but it’s a huge improvement from what it was before the cleaning, where the haze covered nearly 100% of the glass surface.
The reassembled lens, with sparkly clean glass!
The ultimate test was to run a film through my Leica M3 with the Summaron attached. Below are a few of the frames from that roll, many of which are shot toward the light. Comparing these to the shots in my original article, it’s obvious that it now performs much, much better in these situations, retaining good contrast throughout the frame, with only a small amount of veiling flare.
Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron test roll
Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron test roll
Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron test roll
Leitz 35mm F/3.5 Summaron test roll
Overall, I’m very pleased! Shooting with the Summaron used to mean being very mindful about framing so as not to include any bright light sources, and this made me less inclined to use it, but a simple cleaning has turned it into a lens that I think will now find itself attached to my M3 a lot more often!
07
May 12
Cades Cove
A few shots from an early morning trip up to Cades Cove with Dee this past weekend, all taken with a Rolleiflex 3.5 E on Kodak Tri-X.
Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove
03
May 12
Rolleiflex 3.5 E Test Roll
I wanted to test my newly repaired Rolleiflex so I enlisted the help of a work colleague to model while I shot a quick roll of Tri-X. There is a little bit of flare in the contre-jour shots, but I wasn’t using a lens hood so I expected that. Overall, though, I’m very pleased with the results from my bargain bin Rolleiflex!
Rolleiflex 3.5 E Planar, Kodak Tri-X
Rolleiflex 3.5 E Planar, Kodak Tri-X
Rolleiflex 3.5 E Planar, Kodak Tri-X
03
May 12
Rolleiflex 3.5 E (K4C) Planar
I popped into a local photo store the other day to pick up some C41 processing and noticed a Rolleiflex Automat in their used used camera display. I already have two Automats, but I still gave it a quick once over. Noticing me looking at it, one of the sales staff half-jokingly asked if I wanted a cheap, non-working Rolleiflex to repair. I said, “Sure, what is it?”. He went to the back room and returned with a 1956 3.5 E with Carl Zeiss Planar lens.
The case was tatty, but fully intact with no rotted stitching.
I opened the case and saw a fairly dirty looking camera, with some peeling leather on the body and some marks on the taking lens. The salesman explained the issues: shutter and aperture not working, coating damage on both lenses and non-working meter. The meter didn’t concern me as, even if it was working, it surely wouldn’t be accurate (selenium meters of this age usually aren’t). The film wind seemed fairly smooth, and appeared to be cocking the shutter, but neither the shutter release or the self timer would trip it and, sure enough, the aperture control had no effect whatsoever on the lens diaphragm.
I had no idea what was wrong with the shutter, or the aperture mechanism, but figured they were both probably gummed up with old dried out lubricants and could possibly be brought back to life with a good cleaning. Having never opened up a Rolleiflex before, I was still apprehensive, but when I was told I could take it home for $50 I quickly produced my debit card! Even if I destroyed the camera attempting to fix it, I could recoup my outlay by selling the orginal lens cap that it came with!
The 'coating damage' on the lower taking lens is quite visible here.
Rather than blindly stripping it down, I curbed my enthusiasm and spent an evening researching the potential issues. I also downloaded the Rolleiflex service manual (all 800 pages of it!) and scoured the internet for forum posts and articles on Rolleiflex repair. Feeling a little more prepared, I gathered my paltry selection of tools last night and settled down to attempt to revive the camera.
The first thing I did was give the camera a good exterior cleaning using paper towels dampened with warm soapy water, and then I unscrewed the focusing hood to get access to the focusing screen and the viewing mirror.
Both of these items were pretty filthy with sixty years of accumulated grime. The screen, after removal from the hood frame, got a bath and after rinsing was left to air dry. I didn’t want to remove the mirror as it’s position is critical for accurate focusing, so it got a very gentle wipe down followed by a once over with a dampened lens cleaning tissue. While I was in there, I also cleaned the rear element of the viewing lens.
Hood removed to clean the viewing mirror and rear lens element.
The next task on the list was to clean up the lenses, both viewing and taking. The viewing lens is easily removed with the front panel in place, so I tackled that first. I used a lens spanner on the retaining ring and then carefully removed the elements and spacers, noting the order and orientation of each component. The ‘coating damage’ turned out to be a combination of haze, grime, and a little fungus, and all the glass cleaned up very nicely with some lens tissue dampened with vinegar and then cleaning fluid, and reassembly was very straightforward.
The taking lens required removal of the front panel and to access the four screws I had to carefully peel back the leather covering. I also had to remove the flash socket and shutter release retaining rings, along with the self-timer knob, after which the cover lifted off very easily. With this done, it was a simple job to unscrew the taking lens from the shutter.
Front cover and taking lens assembly removed. Note the peeled back leather on the front panel.
I wanted to get between the first two lens groups to clean them thoroughly which involves removing a tiny set screw and then unscrewing the two groups. Again, the glass cleaned up amazingly well and the entire operation was pretty simple.
I mentioned earlier that the shutter was not working when I got the camera, but once I opened it up I manually tripped the actuation lever on the shutter mechanism (seven o’clock in the above image) and it fired right up! I checked in on all speeds and it worked great. I can only think that someone had removed the front panel previously and not reassembled it correctly so the shutter release button was not tripping the actuator. So far, so good!
Next, the aperture mechanism. The aperture dial on the front cover moves a toothed ring inside that is connected to the actual diaphragm control via a small lug on the outside of shutter speed bezel (shown at approximately three o’clock in the image below).
Front panel removed, showing aperture control lug at three o'clock.
This lug had been bent down towards the bezel and was not engaging in the control ring inside the cover, again a possible indication of prior tampering! I used the flat tip of a screwdriver to gently bend the lug back up a millimeter or so and, on testing with the panel back in place, this worked a treat!
The final job was to put it all back together! This was actually very simple, with the trickiest thing being reattaching the flash sync lever. All that was left then was to re-glue the leather I’d peeled back to access the front panel screws, using Pliobond adhesive.
Reassembled with nice, clean lenses!
The image above shows the newly cleaned lenses: quite a difference from when I got it! All in all, although I was slightly apprehensive about stripping it down, the whole experience was a lot simpler than I thought, and I’m very, very pleased with the results! I now have a fully working Rolleiflex 3.5E for less than I’d have to pay for a lens hood for it!
I ran a roll of Tri-X through it yesterday, and the processed negs show no signs of light leaks or frame spacing issues, and they look super sharp! I’ll post some scans in the next few days…
01
May 12
Sockies
It was a beautiful day on Sunday so I grabbed Dee and her collection of ridiculously bright socks and headed out to shoot some film. I slapped the 28mm F/2.8 AI-S Nikkor on my Nikon FA body and, as there were some nice clouds, I added a polarising filter to enhance them against the blue sky.
Kodak Gold UC 100 ASA
For this second shot, I used some very expired Kodak tungsten-balanced film (EPY) and cross-processed in C41 chemistry.
Kodak EPY 64 ASA tungsten-balanced film, xpro'd in C41
This was the first time I had used this particular lens, and I was very pleased with it’s performance. It has a reputation as one of Nikon’s most highly corrected lenses, and I found nothing in the two rolls of film I shot to make me doubt this. The close-focusing capability is very useful, and sharpness and contrast are splendid!
28
Mar 12
Maternity Shoot
Maternity Shoot
This is from a friend’s maternity shoot last week. I used a Nikon FA with 50mm F/1.2 lens with available light only. She was a great model and we managed to get some wonderful shots before the light went (curse those Spring storms)!
Used at or near it’s maximum aperture, the Nikon 50mm F/1.2 lens gives a lovely soft rendering to images that worked perfectly here.
26
Mar 12
Nikon FM2n
Nikon FM2n with 105mm F/2.5 AI Nikkor lens
My newly acquired Nikon FM2n, shown with a 105mm F/2.5 AI Nikkor lens. The body shows some signs of it’s 25 years or so of use, but it performs beautifully. The light seals and mirror foam had disintegrated into a oily black mess, but after a good clean and some new seals it’s ready for another 30 years of picture taking!
The FM2n was the updated version of the original Nikon FM and retained the solid build and mechanical reliability of it’s predecessor while adding a few useful features such as 1/4000th second top shutter speed, interchangeable focusing screens and faster flash sync speed (1/250 vs. 1/125 in the FM).
Nikon FM2n with 105mm F/2.5 AI Nikkor lens
Although this model was introduced thirty years ago, it’s still a very useable camera. The mechanical shutter requires no batteries to operate (batteries are only required for the internal meter) and is extremely reliable. The build quality of the FM2n is also very high, and puts most modern DSLRs to shame. It’s compact size makes it a great go anywhere camera when you want to travel light; a body and a few prime lenses make a very manageable and compact outfit.
There is no automation with the FM2n. The built-in meter uses a very simple three LED display to indicate over/correct/under exposure, and you adjust either shutter speed or lens aperture to illuminate the center ‘correct’ exposure LED. Although primitive compared to modern Matrix metering marvels, it’s still perfectly effective and the uncluttered viewfinder is very pleasant to use.
All in all, a very useable classic!
13
Mar 12
Nightstand
"Nightstand"
Shot with a Hasselblad 500C/M with 80 mm Carl Zeiss Planar lens on Kodak Tri-X 400 film.
13
Mar 12
Coming Home
"Coming Home"
A lone vehicle meanders along a dusty East Tennessee road.
This is a photo I took on the weekend to test my recently acquired Tokina AT-X 80-200 mm F/2.8 zoom lens. The Tokina was one of the better third-party zooms from the eighties and, although not quite a match for the lenses from the big name camera manufacturers (Nikon, Canon, etc.), it still has a reputation as being a decently sharp optic, and is significantly cheaper on the used market too.
This shot was taken with a Nikon FA on Fuji Neopan 100 film, developed in Kodak HC-110 dilution B. I used a Nikon TC-14A 1.4x teleconvertor too, and zoomed all the way in to give an approximate focal length of 280 mm. All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how it performed, and I think it’s earned a place in my Nikon bag!