Hello friends,
my lovely AGFA Ambiflex that I acquired recently suffered from one small issue - the long speeds like 1/4 - 1s were irregular and sometimes didn't work at all, leaving the shutter open. So I decided to see what's wrong with that old Prontor-reflex
First of all, the camera is FULL of purely Deutch way of thinking - the engineers must have been really crazy to cram such a lot of difficult spots in one small shutter! And yes, the Prontor's quality is definitely under Compur's.
First, there are four chromed screws in bayonette ring, under the lens - remove them first. Carefully lift off almost the whole set of rings, set aside. Remove four black screws around the black plate - the lower left is shorter than others. Now comes the fun - the plate won't let you to turn it around the small gearwheel on its left (yes, it's not removable - that's an aperture driver) until you disengage carefully the goddamn system of cammed levers on the down (an exposure meter system). A hint: you have to pull the lever that goes to the camera down, a screwdriver in the slot near V-X-M switch would help you. Now, wneh it's carefully disconnected, lift the plate and gently rotate it around the gearwheel driver pin, taking out a tiny gearwheel first. The lens release lever would prevent you from turning the plate, just try to press it down with a screwdriver. Remember how the white profiled cam was put under that plate, and remove it. Well, now you have a full access to the shutter. In my case, the whole escapemet mechanism seemed to be shifted off the place, so I first slightly loosened its keeping screw located under lens release lever, shifted the whole thing, fixed in place.
The reassembly is always the worst thing with German cameras Check the shutter. Put the white cammed thing first, rotate back the black plate, engage the damned lever back - takes awhile to put everything back, to make two tiny pins on the levers to stand against the white cam and camera lever Screw it down. Now comes more fun - release the shutter, put a small gearwheel back, disengage a toothed ring from chromed ring, carefully align its first right tooth with the gearwheel, and put a small lever on the upper left side of shutter against the profiled part of this ring. Carefully put a chromed ring back over it, keeping everything in place - requires much care? and watch the pin that should fit into profiled slot - in downside, connected to a "damn" exposure transfer levers. Put a bronze spring over, fitting the ASA setting fixer in its right cutout. Now put there the remaining ring with aperture marks and the top plate with four holes for the white screws. If you didn't lift the whole pie accidentally, it should fit nicely Screw everything back in a crosswise fashion. It should work fine
I hope that these guidelines would help to somebody in restoring the old beauty, Ambiflex. If something is unclear, I am always ready to help!
Cheers from Moscow, Zhenya
my lovely AGFA Ambiflex that I acquired recently suffered from one small issue - the long speeds like 1/4 - 1s were irregular and sometimes didn't work at all, leaving the shutter open. So I decided to see what's wrong with that old Prontor-reflex
First of all, the camera is FULL of purely Deutch way of thinking - the engineers must have been really crazy to cram such a lot of difficult spots in one small shutter! And yes, the Prontor's quality is definitely under Compur's.
First, there are four chromed screws in bayonette ring, under the lens - remove them first. Carefully lift off almost the whole set of rings, set aside. Remove four black screws around the black plate - the lower left is shorter than others. Now comes the fun - the plate won't let you to turn it around the small gearwheel on its left (yes, it's not removable - that's an aperture driver) until you disengage carefully the goddamn system of cammed levers on the down (an exposure meter system). A hint: you have to pull the lever that goes to the camera down, a screwdriver in the slot near V-X-M switch would help you. Now, wneh it's carefully disconnected, lift the plate and gently rotate it around the gearwheel driver pin, taking out a tiny gearwheel first. The lens release lever would prevent you from turning the plate, just try to press it down with a screwdriver. Remember how the white profiled cam was put under that plate, and remove it. Well, now you have a full access to the shutter. In my case, the whole escapemet mechanism seemed to be shifted off the place, so I first slightly loosened its keeping screw located under lens release lever, shifted the whole thing, fixed in place.
The reassembly is always the worst thing with German cameras
Check the shutter. Put the white cammed thing first, rotate back the black plate, engage the damned lever back - takes awhile to put everything back, to make two tiny pins on the levers to stand against the white cam and camera lever Screw it down. Now comes more fun - release the shutter, put a small gearwheel back, disengage a toothed ring from chromed ring, carefully align its first right tooth with the gearwheel, and put a small lever on the upper left side of shutter against the profiled part of this ring. Carefully put a chromed ring back over it, keeping everything in place - requires much care? and watch the pin that should fit into profiled slot - in downside, connected to a "damn" exposure transfer levers. Put a bronze spring over, fitting the ASA setting fixer in its right cutout. Now put there the remaining ring with aperture marks and the top plate with four holes for the white screws. If you didn't lift the whole pie accidentally, it should fit nicely Screw everything back in a crosswise fashion. It should work fine I hope that these guidelines would help to somebody in restoring the old beauty, Ambiflex. If something is unclear, I am always ready to help!
Cheers from Moscow, Zhenya
