1954 Ansco Memar - "Frozen Focus?"

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Unexpected results from my attempt to fix the frozen focus on a pretty looking Ansco Memar.

Now before we get into this, let it be known that I know very little about camera repair. Most of the few things I do know have been learned by breaking many, many cameras. However, one thing I have learned over the years that has usually worked is, when the focus on an Agfa/Ansco camera is locked, or very stiff to turn, it normally means that the helical threads need to be cleaned. For some reason Agfa had buckets and buckets of a green goop that they thought was a lubricant. So, if your 50 year old (plus or minus) Agfa camera is having focus problems then the first thing that you need to do is clean the dried up green goo/glue out of the focusing threads. Once that was done you could apply a very small amount of graphite powder or white lithium grease and all we well with the world. Agfa did have other problems but that is not the subject of this post.

For some reason I have an attraction for cheap, Agfa cameras. So, when I found that my newly purchased Ansco Regent had a frozen focus ring I thought nothing of it. Clean the threads and the focus would work again. In the meantime, since the focus ring was set exactly at infinity, I took my new purchase out and fired off a couple of rolls using zone focusing. The results were good between 8 foot to infinity, which meant the shutter was firing somewhere close to accurate. The camera went into the drawer to await its turn with the Ronsonol and Q-Tip brigade. That day finally arrived today. So I pulled out the tools (it really doesn't take much) and unthreaded the collar ring that holds the shutter in place on the front of the bellows. The Ansco Memar is a folding 35mm camera and it is very easy to remove the shutter assembly from the front standard even for a hamfisted camera breaker with three thumbs like myself. This gives easy access to clean the focus helicoid.

Now this is where things began to get odd. When the shutter and lens came out I pulled out a q-tip, dribbled a bit of lighter fluid on the end, and began to run the q-tip around the helicoid threads. Nothing to it...right? My mind began to wander off as it often does when I'm doing these mindless, but time-consuming little tasks. But this time I got very little green on the q-tip. Odd. But I went to turn the focus ring and imagine my surprise when it turned quite easily. It was not frozen at all. In fact, it may even have been a bit loose. But I still didn't get it. I happily continued to clean things and then proceeded to reinstall the shutter and lens on the front standard. I snugged the collar up and lifted the camera to my eye. What??? The focus control was locked up solid again and absolutely would not move. Something was wrong for sure.

At this point I am without a clue. There appears to be a small post/screw on the back of the shutter that fits nicely into a small hole in the bottom front of the front standard. Once it is in that little hole the focus ring is locked in place whether the threaded collar is installed or not. It would seem that there should be some type of spacer/shim that has been lost at some point in the past.

What I need is a drawing/diagram that shows how the lens/shutter attaches to the front standard that includes all the expected shims and spacers and other doohickies that should be positioned between the shutter and front standard so the focus ring turns as expected. Maybe there is some sort of a repair manual out there that would give me some ideas. The camera itself isn't worth a whole lot so I don't intend on spending a lot of money, or my time, fiddling around trying to figure out what is missing. But I do enjoy shooting these little camera and they are so light and handy that it is great to have one sitting on the seat in the car when I'm running around.

So here I am. The shutter operates nicely and the lens produces very nice images as would be expected from a quality German-made triplet lens. The focus ring also turns nice and smooth, as long as the shutter and lens are not in place. Once I put the two together everything locks up and I am left with a very effective point and shoot camera that does not focus.

Help??
 

Nicholas Lindan

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Well, it is mechanically binding so it shouldn't be too hard to find and fix.

Put the lens/shutter/camera together one small step at a time - checking the focus after each step. Hopefully that will help identify the problem. If possible, take it all apart and repeat the problem step all on its own and see if it can cause the focus to seize - otherwise it may be a combination of factors causing the problem.
 

albada

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The lens and focus assembly consists of two brass parts: the inner part that rotates to focus (male threads), and the outer part that is stationary (female threads). Here's the clinker: The outer part screws into the shutter, and when the focus gets stiff, and somebody forces the focus anticlockwise, the threads on the outer part can loosen, causing the focus to appear to be easy. But you're not focusing; you are merely unscrewing the focus+lens assembly. I suspect that's what happened to you, but I can't explain why it became tight after re-installing the shutter.

I fix these things by unscrewing the lens assembly, removing all the glass elements I can (they're secured with threaded rings), and putting the assembly in the oven for half an hour at 300 or 350 degrees F. The heat thins the green gluey grease enough that I can unscrew and separate both brass parts, which I then clean with a toothbrush in naphtha.

Mark
 

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Unexpected results from my attempt to fix the frozen focus on a pretty looking Ansco Memar.

Now before we get into this, let it be known that I know very little about camera repair. Most of the few things I do know have been learned by breaking many, many cameras. However, one thing I have learned over the years that has usually worked is, when the focus on an Agfa/Ansco camera is locked, or very stiff to turn, it normally means that the helical threads need to be cleaned. For some reason Agfa had buckets and buckets of a green goop that they thought was a lubricant. So, if your 50 year old (plus or minus) Agfa camera is having focus problems then the first thing that you need to do is clean the dried up green goo/glue out of the focusing threads. Once that was done you could apply a very small amount of graphite powder or white lithium grease and all we well with the world. Agfa did have other problems but that is not the subject of this post.

For some reason I have an attraction for cheap, Agfa cameras. So, when I found that my newly purchased Ansco Regent had a frozen focus ring I thought nothing of it. Clean the threads and the focus would work again. In the meantime, since the focus ring was set exactly at infinity, I took my new purchase out and fired off a couple of rolls using zone focusing. The results were good between 8 foot to infinity, which meant the shutter was firing somewhere close to accurate. The camera went into the drawer to await its turn with the Ronsonol and Q-Tip brigade. That day finally arrived today. So I pulled out the tools (it really doesn't take much) and unthreaded the collar ring that holds the shutter in place on the front of the bellows. The Ansco Memar is a folding 35mm camera and it is very easy to remove the shutter assembly from the front standard even for a hamfisted camera breaker with three thumbs like myself. This gives easy access to clean the focus helicoid.

Now this is where things began to get odd. When the shutter and lens came out I pulled out a q-tip, dribbled a bit of lighter fluid on the end, and began to run the q-tip around the helicoid threads. Nothing to it...right? My mind began to wander off as it often does when I'm doing these mindless, but time-consuming little tasks. But this time I got very little green on the q-tip. Odd. But I went to turn the focus ring and imagine my surprise when it turned quite easily. It was not frozen at all. In fact, it may even have been a bit loose. But I still didn't get it. I happily continued to clean things and then proceeded to reinstall the shutter and lens on the front standard. I snugged the collar up and lifted the camera to my eye. What??? The focus control was locked up solid again and absolutely would not move. Something was wrong for sure.

At this point I am without a clue. There appears to be a small post/screw on the back of the shutter that fits nicely into a small hole in the bottom front of the front standard. Once it is in that little hole the focus ring is locked in place whether the threaded collar is installed or not. It would seem that there should be some type of spacer/shim that has been lost at some point in the past.

What I need is a drawing/diagram that shows how the lens/shutter attaches to the front standard that includes all the expected shims and spacers and other doohickies that should be positioned between the shutter and front standard so the focus ring turns as expected. Maybe there is some sort of a repair manual out there that would give me some ideas. The camera itself isn't worth a whole lot so I don't intend on spending a lot of money, or my time, fiddling around trying to figure out what is missing. But I do enjoy shooting these little camera and they are so light and handy that it is great to have one sitting on the seat in the car when I'm running around.

So here I am. The shutter operates nicely and the lens produces very nice images as would be expected from a quality German-made triplet lens. The focus ring also turns nice and smooth, as long as the shutter and lens are not in place. Once I put the two together everything locks up and I am left with a very effective point and shoot camera that does not focus.

Help??

I have had the same problem with Agfa (fixed focus) but my repair method won't help you.
Now there is to one of my Agfa cameras a shutter problem.

But what you need is something like this here ?
Instead of this (here is a Compur Shutter described) you
have a need of data (exploded drawing) for the lens - right?
 

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mshchem

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The lens and focus assembly consists of two brass parts: the inner part that rotates to focus (male threads), and the outer part that is stationary (female threads). Here's the clinker: The outer part screws into the shutter, and when the focus gets stiff, and somebody forces the focus anticlockwise, the threads on the outer part can loosen, causing the focus to appear to be easy. But you're not focusing; you are merely unscrewing the focus+lens assembly. I suspect that's what happened to you, but I can't explain why it became tight after re-installing the shutter.

I fix these things by unscrewing the lens assembly, removing all the glass elements I can (they're secured with threaded rings), and putting the assembly in the oven for half an hour at 300 or 350 degrees F. The heat thins the green gluey grease enough that I can unscrew and separate both brass parts, which I then clean with a toothbrush in naphtha.

Mark

Good process. I've got a really old Zeiss lens in a Leica thread mount that is exactly what you describe. I'm going to send it off to a place I know, maybe I will give it a go.
 
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Good process. I've got a really old Zeiss lens in a Leica thread mount that is exactly what you describe. I'm going to send it off to a place I know, maybe I will give it a go.

You made me start thinking about this again. I think I was wrong with my original post. This is a unit focusing lens. The shutter/lens assembly locks into the inner brass ring via the post on the back of the shutter assembly by inserting into the small hole in the brass ring. The outer part which rotates, and which indexes to the camera itself so you can read the focus distance, should not also cause that inner brass part to rotate when you are focusing the lens. On this camera the inner brass part should be moving in an out to achieve focus instead of trying to rotate when the outer ring is turned. It isn't.

So I dribbled a little lighter fluid into the gap between the outer focus ring and that inner brass component and am applying a little heat. We'll see if it starts to move in a bit. Unfortunately, if I'm right, it is so frozen together it may take quite awhile, and a fair amount of force, to get it moving,

I know I probably confused everyone even further. I'm sorry. But like I said I am not a camera repair tech so everything I do is a learning process. At least I haven't actually broken anything yet.

Update - Ok, it moved. The outer ring rotates around the inner brass insert which in turn results in the brass insert moving in and out to achieve focus. I cleaned a couple threads, applied a small amount of lighter fluid, and put is all back under the heat lamp. It should continue to move until the green goo is eventually cleaned away. I hope!
 

mshchem

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You made me start thinking about this again. I think I was wrong with my original post. This is a unit focusing lens. The shutter/lens assembly locks into the inner brass ring via the post on the back of the shutter assembly by inserting into the small hole in the brass ring. The outer part which rotates, and which indexes to the camera itself so you can read the focus distance, should not also cause that inner brass part to rotate when you are focusing the lens. On this camera the inner brass part should be moving in an out to achieve focus instead of trying to rotate when the outer ring is turned. It isn't.

So I dribbled a little lighter fluid into the gap between the outer focus ring and that inner brass component and am applying a little heat. We'll see if it starts to move in a bit. Unfortunately, if I'm right, it is so frozen together it may take quite awhile, and a fair amount of force, to get it moving,

I know I probably confused everyone even further. I'm sorry. But like I said I am not a camera repair tech so everything I do is a learning process. At least I haven't actually broken anything yet.

Update - Ok, it moved. The outer ring rotates around the inner brass insert which in turn results in the brass insert moving in and out to achieve focus. I cleaned a couple threads, applied a small amount of lighter fluid, and put is all back under the heat lamp. It should continue to move until the green goo is eventually cleaned away. I hope!

I have tried liquid wrench (applied with a eye dropper) and Kodak movie film cleaner. I need to try straight liquid lighter fluid. I don't think this lens has been touched in 50 years.
 

nosmok

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Your adventures with this Memar don't surprise me: the first Agfa Solinar 105mm f/4.5 lens I ever had is STILL frozen in the inner threads. Ten years ago, I soaked it for multiple days in every solvent known to man or message board --nothing worked! It's in a box with other junk in the basement. When I go thru that box looking for some part, I'll occasionally take it out and give it a twist with pliers, wrenches, whatever- same result every time. It's almost reassuring at this point, something I can count on.
 
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Your adventures with this Memar don't surprise me: the first Agfa Solinar 105mm f/4.5 lens I ever had is STILL frozen in the inner threads. Ten years ago, I soaked it for multiple days in every solvent known to man or message board --nothing worked! It's in a box with other junk in the basement. When I go thru that box looking for some part, I'll occasionally take it out and give it a twist with pliers, wrenches, whatever- same result every time. It's almost reassuring at this point, something I can count on.

Yes. When this "lubricant" actually sets up solid it is very persistent. I haven't yet found one I couldn't salvage but most of my experience is with medium format cameras. A couple have come out of the experience a bit scratched and scarred by the wrenches so I sometimes wonder why I bothered.

This little 35mm may turn out to be my Waterloo. Right now it is stuck again. I was able to get it rotated to close focus but now it won't rotate back to infinity. I have it under the heat lamp again but I have to say that I don't think that the lighter fluid is going to work with this one. I hate to resort to stronger substances as I am not sure how well the bellows will hold up. Fortunately they are inexpensive, at least most of the ones I've worked on are, so I haven't had too much cash at risk.
 
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