Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

I've also got a Polaroid Esprit which is pink and green.

[Kenzie]

Managed to get this 50/1.4 stripped and cleaned. Had problems getting the innermost element out last time. But success this time.




Sent from my Xperia using Tapatalk

[johnnyrod]

Very nice. Well, in good news today KENZIE I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES in a purely Platonic, manly sort of way of course. The printed shims arrived and I think the Fujica is now usable. I fitted a 0.5 and 0.3mm and gave it a go, not quite there, so put a 0.2 on as well with the expectation that my measurements weren't great and they would get squashed a little, and now it's in focus. The RF matches the lens, the focus scale is mostly there but still off a little in the middle for some reason. Took the film out of the fridge, need to check how to load it as it has an auto frame counter.

[Kenzie]

You are very welcome! My wife laughed. Glad the printer has been able to produce something useful, just glad I made a few different sizes. Oh, after I cleaned the lens I decided to do a prism swap on an OM1. All went well until I snapped the lug on the power switch... Meter is in the on position ( battery out) Guess it's now a sunny 16 camera for now.

[johnnyrod]

B*gg'r. As the guy on FB says though, best to replace the wire as it'll be old and fragile now anyway. If you are using normal solder for an electric iron then it has flux in it, so if you have an old wire you need to "tin" the end a couple of times, not for the solder, but for the flux to get to it to clean the wire, maybe even put some solder on then wipe the wire end on the wet sponge, using the iron tip to press it down.
Got some FP4 in the Super Fujica now! No red window so it's now an article of faith that a 50s auto frame counter will work well enough with 2019 paper backing. I know the Super Ikontas aren't quite right, and the one time I tried using the one on the Certo it was miles out so I stuck with the red windows.

[Kenzie]

New wire has been run and attached to the battery chamber. I ran it like this in order to stop the wire from moving and being pulled away from the tab. Just waiting for my flux solder to arrive tomorrow and I will get it soldered to the board. I held the end of the meter wire to the contact and the meter powers up.







I also had to sort out the stuck battery cover. I had a spare base plate but I like to keep the serial numbers original. I have tried soaking in white vinegar before but no joy, gave it a soaking in Plus Gas, but the cap ended up stripping the slot. So making sure I had a spare battery cover, I drilled through the cap in the slot, basically made the slot a hole and then unscrewed it using a massive flathead screwdriver. Didn't put up much resistance that time!

[Kenzie]

The solder arrived today so I cracked on and got the meter wire sorted out. Camera is back together and now fully functional. Just waiting for the glue to dry on the skin. I still suck at soldering! I missed off the plastic trim that fits between the body and the top plate around the prism, so had to strip it all off again.

[johnnyrod]

Good going! I took my first picture with the Fujica today. I also seized the day and sorted the wobbly barrel on my Olympus S. It was a complete pig to peel back the leatherette, it was stuck like the apocryphal excrement to a blanket, I had an arm like Popeye by the time I was finished slowly levering it with a screwdriver blade, a few millimetre at a time. Anyway the plate on the front of the body turned out to be two small plates, that just covered the gap underneath. I'm not too clear on what was connected to what, but the focus assembly is screwed directly to the body, and the four screws had between 1/2 and 2 turns of slack in them. There is still a little wobble, the Konica is the same, it's a small amount between each of the rings, so I guess it's normal, and I think it's just the rings no the main body of the shutter. Checked the collimation and RF, it's good to go now.

[Kenzie]

At least its better, I usually rip leatherette. The K1000 came off easy enough. Glad the Fujica is usable at last! I've been pottering around the garden with a crappy point and shoot with expired Kodak Gold. No idea whn I can afford to send them off though. I thought I had burnt the PCB of the K1000, then when I looked through the viewfinder the meter was just pointing to + and not moving. Then realised I had in set to Bulb and in a K1000 thats the meter check mode... So all good. Doesn't even look like I ripped its face off.

Sent from my Xperia using Tapatalk

[Kenzie]

Found this in my stash while looking for something else. Another forgotten camera! The taking lens has quite a bit of dust but I have no idea how to clean it out. Agfa Optima Reflex 35mm TLR.