GAS Sanity Check

[BrianShaw]

I'm meeting with the guy tomorrow. Due to the sticky slow speeds, he has agreed to $65.

Chris

I hope that means you’re buying it.

 

[mtnbkr]

I hope that means you’re buying it.

That is the plan.

Chris

 

[mtnbkr]

I recently bought a Zeiss Icon Nettar 517/2, but mine is a cheaper model and has the lower spec'ed f6.3 Novar lens and a basic Vario shutter (3 speed + B). I think mine looks a little cleaner than yours, and has proven to be in great working condition. I paid $75 from a camera shop with a 30 day return policy.

I was deliberately looking for a basic triplet lens, so no regrets, there.

The camera is a real jewel, and it makes me smile every time I open it. The scale focusing is a PITA, but maybe it will get easier with more experience. So far, only 1 roll completed -- scans posted here: https://garywright.smugmug.com/Photography/Kodak-Tri-X-120-Feb-Mar-2026.

Nice shots. We have a lot of old cemeteries around here dating back to the 1700s. Between family farms being displaced by the Civil War or being turned into subdivisions, they're all over in unexpected places. They make for good photographic fodder.

Chris

 

[mtnbkr]

I have the camera in hand and it's as nice as it looked in the pictures. Even the bellows are supple and clean. This does not look like a 70yo camera in the slightest.

As for the shutter, speeds 1/10th and slower are sticky, but light pressure on the cocking lever encourages the shutter to cycle. 1/25th and faster, as well as Bulb, all seem to work fine. The focus mechanism is nice and smooth, the glass is spotless inside and out, and the aperture blades move easily and are clean. Even the leather carrying strap is clean, intact, and supple. The only mark on the painted surfaces is a tiny ding where it might have bumped something. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a reproduction or something. It must have been stored in ideal conditions its entire life.

The seller was a very pleasant fellow who has his own struggles with GAS and likes to buy cameras, shoot a few rolls through them from time to time, then sell some off. He said he has 60-odd cameras of various types. He also brought a very clean 35mm folder, I didn't catch the make, and was offering it for $50. I was tempted, but I don't need another 35mm camera.

I'm going to hold off on CLAing the shutter mechanism and see if I can get by without the slowest speeds for now.

As soon as B&H's ordering system is available again, I'm going to order a few rolls of Kentmere 100 and a roll or two of Kentmere 400 to test it out.

Chris

 

[Chuck1]

If it has a self timer don't touch it
Enjoy

 

[mtnbkr]

If it has a self timer don't touch it
Enjoy

I have no plans to do so. It's kind of awkward to get to anyway.

Chris

 

[film4Me]

If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a reproduction or something.

Perhaps not. There are a dozen reasons why old cameras are still in excellent condition ... used once and then stored away ... unwanted gifts that were never used ... seconds that sneaked out of the factory somehow ... cameras for display only ... well-to-do collectors who buy new cameras for display and/or investment ... owners who lost interest in taking photos but still kept the camera.

I have a few pristine folders that I'm sure conform to one or more of these reasons. One, a Mamiya Six Automat folder, I absolutely know that the seller had it only for collection and display. Another, an Art Deco 3A folder I feel certain is a "second". The fault is a floppy viewfinder, it won't stay in position, the rivet wasn't swaged tight enough in the factory, and rather than hold up the production line, it possibly got sidelined. Something the thickness of a piece of 3x4 sheet film jammed in behind the viewfinder will fix it. Otherwise, the camera is genuinely near mint.

 

[Disconnekt]

I was gonna say that if you were gonna send it to get cla'ed to send it to Vermon Camera Works in Vermont (here: https://vermontcamera.com/), thats where I got my Kodak Monitor 616 cla'ed & new bellows installed for $175 (for repairing the shutter, cla, & cleaning the optics it was $90), but seems like they currently have a big backlog/wait time.

 

[Pictorialist.de]

That‘s how the shutter looks from inside. When you apply 1 drop of lighter fluid (per syringe with canule) in the slit of the cocking lever, holding the shutter in a way, that the drop inside hits the escapement, the slow shutter times should be working again. Directly when you put the drop inside cock the shutter at 1/10 and release it some times (calmly). Repeat it with 1/5, 1/2… If the result isn‘t satisfying, repeat the procedure after a minute or so. Don‘t insert more than 1 drop at a time. You want to make the escapement going, but you don’t want to wash any dirt on the shutter and/or aperture blades.

 

[Pictorialist.de]

That‘s how the shutter looks from inside. When you apply 1 drop of lighter fluid (per syringe with canule) in the slit of the cocking lever, holding the shutter in a way, that the drop inside hits the escapement, the slow shutter times should be working again. Directly when you put the drop inside cock the shutter at 1/10 and release it some times (calmly). Repeat it with 1/5, 1/2… If the result isn‘t satisfying, repeat the procedure after a minute or so. Don‘t insert more than 1 drop at a time. You want to make the escapement going, but you don’t want to wash any dirt on the shutter and/or aperture blades.

View attachment 425737

You can do the same from below to the selftimer if it sticks. If the camera is as clean as you described, there won‘t be much dirt inside. It‘s just some old lubricant that needs be solved.

 

[mshchem]

I just "repaired" a 1956 Kodak Retina IIIc . Slow shutter speeds off. I used Kodak movie film cleaner, just a few drops directly on the shutter blades from the front with the bayonet mount front lens element off. Washed some old oil off the blades that had migrated over 7 decades. Seems to work perfectly now.

 

[BrianShaw]

Sometimes shortcut fixes work; sometimes they don’t.

 

[OAPOli]

Yeah. Treating the symptoms can work, but there is a cure.

 

[Petrochemist]

Old folding cameras like that can make nice photographic subjects/props even if they're not working. I must have picked up half a dozen over the years. Hopefully I'll be able to print from the negs soon!

 

[Disconnekt]

Photo forums are bad if you got GAS, cuz we always end up giving you more beans (enablers) to give you more GAS

 

[mtnbkr]

Old folding cameras like that can make nice photographic subjects/props even if they're not working. I must have picked up half a dozen over the years. Hopefully I'll be able to print from the negs soon!

This one is definitely pretty enough to be a decoration if I decide not to use it. But use it I shall. :

Photo forums are bad if you got GAS, cuz we always end up giving you more beans (enablers) to give you more GAS

True, though I might have walked away had the seller not come off his price. I generally have pretty good self-control over these things and the mental load of adding another camera in a format I don't shoot a lot helps. At the price I paid, if I don't use it much, it won't be a nagging concern in the back of my brain.

Chris