I have two cameras for sale here that nobody would call beautiful, but each is quite capable of being your next favorite piece of gear...with a little work. The pictures are out of order, but you'll figure it out. Questions happily answered and purchase money refunded if you're unsatisfied.
1: Rolleiflex 3.5 X synch. Zeiss-Opton Tessar from around 1950 (serial # 1133459). It needs a good cleaning and some new skin, but takes very nice images- if you shoot above 1/25 of a second. With a CLA, it should be fine. My other Rollei's were worse and now work like new. This one has had a long and adventure-filled life, from the look of it, but I don't know its history. I bought it for the lens, thinking that all Zeiss-Opton Tessars from similar serial-numbered cameras would be interchangeable. This is not the case. (And I now have to find another solution to the acid-etched front element on my uncle's old camerathe one I won't sell but can't use unless I want fuzzy pics.) I have to let this one go to keep trying for that solution. $125 plus postage.
2: A Baby Speed Graphic that has some bits you may want to fix. The camera looks quite good, but there is no lens board, and, in fact, the small metal strip that holds the lens board in at the bottom has mysteriously vanished. That part should be easy, the screws are there, just no metal strip. Bellows and rack are good and the focal plane shutter curtain is whole and moves quite freely. The only problem there is that the letters showing in the window are off. It says "A" when it should say "O". All speeds work and the controls move easily. My guess is that somebody overhauled it and put it back together with the indicator wheel mis-aligned. Simple spring back, and the glass and curtains are good. The front latch spring was replaced at one time, likely by the same slap-dash techniciannot the neatest job but it works. There is a side-mounted Kalart rangefinder, but I don't know what lens it was set for- seems to be in the 100mm range, as expected. It is missing the eyepiece and needs horizontal adjustment, but it responds to focus travel smoothly and consistently $50 plus postage.
1: Rolleiflex 3.5 X synch. Zeiss-Opton Tessar from around 1950 (serial # 1133459). It needs a good cleaning and some new skin, but takes very nice images- if you shoot above 1/25 of a second. With a CLA, it should be fine. My other Rollei's were worse and now work like new. This one has had a long and adventure-filled life, from the look of it, but I don't know its history. I bought it for the lens, thinking that all Zeiss-Opton Tessars from similar serial-numbered cameras would be interchangeable. This is not the case. (And I now have to find another solution to the acid-etched front element on my uncle's old camerathe one I won't sell but can't use unless I want fuzzy pics.) I have to let this one go to keep trying for that solution. $125 plus postage.
2: A Baby Speed Graphic that has some bits you may want to fix. The camera looks quite good, but there is no lens board, and, in fact, the small metal strip that holds the lens board in at the bottom has mysteriously vanished. That part should be easy, the screws are there, just no metal strip. Bellows and rack are good and the focal plane shutter curtain is whole and moves quite freely. The only problem there is that the letters showing in the window are off. It says "A" when it should say "O". All speeds work and the controls move easily. My guess is that somebody overhauled it and put it back together with the indicator wheel mis-aligned. Simple spring back, and the glass and curtains are good. The front latch spring was replaced at one time, likely by the same slap-dash techniciannot the neatest job but it works. There is a side-mounted Kalart rangefinder, but I don't know what lens it was set for- seems to be in the 100mm range, as expected. It is missing the eyepiece and needs horizontal adjustment, but it responds to focus travel smoothly and consistently $50 plus postage.
