Changing focus screen on Rolleicord I

Hi all,

I decided to take a break now and then from my dSLR and picked up a nice Rolleicord I. What can I say... I love the little brick. What bothers me is the dim focusing screen. My dad has a couple of TLRs with much brighter screens I'm eyeing enviously, but he won't share. :rolleyes:

That's why I'm looking into brighter screens now. How hard is it to replace a focusing screen on a pre-war Rolleicord? There's a repair shop that replaces them and services the whole camera at the same time. Do you think that is worth it? I'm sure I'd need to realign the focus too. Is that doable?

Thanks!

Antje

Hello Antje,

since you are from Germany, you might want to ask in this (german) forum as well: http://www.schwarzweiss-magazin.de/swmag_frame_forum_pg.htm

There are many users of Rolleis and many have changed the screens.

Regards,
Andreas

The mirror on these cameras often require replacement as well. I would start with that, especially if your mirror has black spots and/or has yellowed. On a Cord I its almost certainly a shellac-silver mirror, impossible to clean without damaging it.

Thanks for the suggestions! Andreas, that forum looks awesome, a wealth of information there. Cool.
Mike, yes, I decided to give it a complete overhaul. If it's good for another 70 years then, that's money well spent, probably.

Antje