I got my M3 back from Youxin Ye this morning. It was in for a shutter capping issue and he adjusted shutter speeds, shutter brake settings and curtain travel. Really great service too; only a week, including shipping time! Running a test roll through it soon.
**Edit** – ran a test film through the M3 this afternoon (01.27.12) and all signs of the shutter capping are gone. Even density right across the entire frame with no sign of the underexposed strip that was there before. Well chuffed!
Months ago, I posted about the new-to-me Rollei 35 that I’d got bundled with a bunch of other cameras I bought. I said that I was going to shoot with it and post the results. Well, that didn’t go exactly to plan, as I injured my back shortly after and was confined to the house for the next two months.
The diminuative Rollei 35, now with a working meter!
During this time, I dry-fired the little Rollei quite a lot, getting used to the eccentric control layout and handling, as well as spending some time cleaning it up. Everything worked well, apart from the meter, which I came to find out is fairly normal on these cameras.
I checked the battery compartment, and it appeared to be free of corrosion, but I still gave the contact a good rub with a pencil eraser just in case. No good; the meter was still dead. I also checked the battery in another camera to make sure it was good, and gave the entire compartment a swipe over with a lens tissue and some denatured alcohol. Still no life from the meter, so I just put it down to age and resigned myself to using it with an external meter. I then started some minor repair work on a few other cameras, and the little Rollei was forgotten…
Until last night. I came across it while looking for something else, and determined to run a roll through it as soon as possible. The non-functioning meter was bugging me though, so I took another look at the contact in the battery compartment. Although it appeared free from corrosion, it was very dull and I’m used to contacts being shiny, so I decided some brute force was required!
Rollei 35
I found a screwdriver and began scraping at the surface of the contact. Sure enough, after applying a little more pressure than I would have liked, the dull coating started to come off, revealing the bright metal underneath. I grabbed another lens cloth and cleaned up the residue that I’d removed and popped in a battery. The meter needle sprung to life immediately and, what’s more, the readings compared well to my external meter!
Now, I’m not suggesting scraping away at a battery contact will fix a dud meter in all cameras, and I only resorted to this after trying everything else (I wasn’t prepared to spend a lot of money on a new meter), but in this case, it worked well and means I can now start using this little gem again. I’ll post some shots from the first roll soon!
This is my second Automat (the first being a 1956 MX-EVS) and, apart from a few minor knocks and scrapes, it’s in very nice condition. I bought it from a retiring photographer who purchased it new in 1954. He had quite a successful career as a photographer, and used the Rolleiflex extensively for portraits, some of which were of quite famous people. He showed me some negatives of Eleanor Roosevelt, among others, that he shot with this camera.
The nice thing about buying a camera from someone who made their living from using them is that they are generally in excellent mechanical and optical shape (even they may be a little cosmetically challenged), and this machine is no exceptions; it’s probably one of the smoothest operating Rolleis I’ve ever used!
This MX is fitted with the Zeiss Oberkochen Opton 75mm F/3.5 taking lens, which I did not know much about (my other Rollei has a Carl Zeiss Tessar), but I have been amazed at the quality from this little optic.
This little Tessar lens is super sharp!
One of my favourite medium format shooters!
I’ve been shooting a lot with my 1957 Leica M3 lately, but I’ve recently started noticing an underexposed area at the very edge of my negatives. After some research, this is most likely due to an issue called ‘shutter capping’, which is where the tension of the horizontal cloth shutter needs adjusting.
So, although I hate to be without it, I shipped it off yesterday to Youxin Ye, a renowned Leica repairman, in Canton, Massachusetts. I’ve used him before and have been very pleased with the work. Hopefully I’ll get it back soon!
Although I do a lot of renovation and minor repairs on my cameras, I do not have a shutter tester so I can’t tackle this one myself. I’m also not sure I’d trust myself opening up the Leica!
A few images from a lazy Sunday afternoon spent with a good friend. Shot with a Leica M3 and Summicron, Summitar and Elmarit lenses on Kodak Tri-X film.
