Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

Johnny, thoughts on this? 274074414431 repairable or is the lens too far gone?

[johnnyrod]

Wow, 6x9, they're not cheap. Hard to tell, there is something funky going on there. You could try asking them to open the shutter on B at full aperture and try to take some pics or describe it, you'll need to tell them how, most people are willing to try. Zeiss lenses tend to be pretty resilient in the face of fungus, I've found, so I'd try to get more info and then possibly give it a punt, for the price of a busted one if possible.

[johnnyrod]

It's already November and I said I'd sell some cameras at Christmas so I finally made a start. Contessamat SBE with sticky aperture blades, couldn't get the middle lens out but managed all the same. Need a bit of peroxide and ammonia for the front element and collimate it. Durst Automatica, same for the front element. Swapped the top plate with that off a spares one as it was a lot better, need to give it all a proper clean. It's got a couple of cracks on the front, which 90% of them seem to, but is fully working otherwise, even the auto exposure. I have a Bessa 66 that I think needs the fungus removing so might do that at the same time as the other two.

[Kenzie]

Nearly Christmas time indeed. I've been out and about today, a few bits of camera gear but the charity shops are getting stupid. Bencini Comet 127 camera for £30 and an Olympus OM1 MD for £110!!! Not even fitted with a proper OM lens either, just some Kiron 70-200 jobby. I donated out a load of cameras yesterday, probably about 15 or so, couple of Zeiss Continas, a Chinon SLR and some other bits. I've been spoiled some higher end cameras and they just won't get used, plus not worth listing as I paid very little for them anyway. You know what is a very important thing to check on your camera with an electronically controlled shutter apart from having film in? How about a set of batteries? Picked up my FRII as I wanted to play with the Yashica ML 24 and found I forgot to check it had batteries fitted.... By the way, how are you getting on up there Johnny? Heard about a lot of flooding in Doncaster area.

[johnnyrod]

Kiron are the same brand as Vivitar and at least one other, they get almost universally good reviews. I don't think the zoom is worth a lot, but I reckon it would deliver.
We're okay where we are, there has been havoc wreaked though. The stream from the millpond is normally a foot deep, now it's about 8ft deep. Sheffield copped it last night but Donny is downstream so it was our turn today. Traffic was chaos so yesterday and today I finished at 3 - I felt like I might be coming across as a bit melodramatic yesterday making that suggestion, but by today no one would think anything of it! Worksop is a **** town nearby so won't make the news like Sheffield, but it's been badly hit. Look out our window though and you'd wonder what the fuss is, so we're very lucky, but my normal route to work was closed yesterday afternoon.

[Kenzie]

That's a lot of water! I've been off for the last couple of days and the forecast has been for rain both days so I haven't taken the bike out, it hasn't rained...

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[Kenzie]

Have been tinkering with a Minolta SRT101b this afternoon, spotted something amiss in the viewfinder. Got it all apart and found a couple of bits had come unstuck. Glued everything back in place and all good again.









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[johnnyrod]

You.re having better luck than me! Collimated the Durst, it needs a good clean. I made up some ammonia and peroxide and cleaned the front lens first. I did the Contessamat, and also popped the lenses out of a folding Bessa 66 that I've had for ages. The Bessa has a simple enough shutter, needs a clean but shouldn't be a difficult job. It's a lovely camera, pity it's scale focus, got a Skopar 75mm f3.5 lens. Less luck with the Contessamat; I collimated it and checked the RF adjustment, which was fine but a touch off vertically. I took the top cover off but I'm not sure where the adjuster is, so I left it in the end, it's not that bad. Thought I'd clean the VF windows but in the process I snapped off the flash wire, they're a pain to resolder. I tried to check the meter indoors even though it isn't very bright, I'll have to do it again during the day but the aperture blades are sticking again so I'm hardly finished! Swine, I'l have to open it up again, I still can't get the middle element out though so hopefully I can fix them. I swabbed them a bit before, and they freed up quite quickly.

[Kenzie]

You should try the Bessa, nice little cameras. If you are shooting mostly at infinity then focusing is not an issue. If not the set for hyperfocal and shoot away!

[Kenzie]

Found a Christmas break project, couldn't say no for £5 plus postage. Came with a really nice case and a while list of problems. Film transport needs attention, shutter is sticky too. Not to mention the covering... Focus will need checking. Not sure whether to repaint it or leave the paintwork as is and feeling it or even leave it naked. Meter works and the lenses are clean and free of fungus.