Greetings and rolleiflex trial run

Greetings fellow analog photographers,

I am a longtime lurker, and have made extensive use of everyone's collective knowledge here on APUG. This site is a truly great resource!! I have been shooting film, mostly B+W, for almost a year now since taking a photo course at the local art school.

I've been wanting to get into medium format recently and manged pick up a rolleiflex locally for very little money...as far as I can tell its a MX-automat with a 75mm f3.5 Tessar and is likely from around 1951-52... The seller said it hadn't been used in over a dozen years so I was a little uncertain how it would perform. Well, I put my first couple of films through it today and just processed the first roll and was impressed! 120 is awesome!! The negs really pop...I was very happy that the exposures were good and the frame spacing was consistent.

The only issue is that it looks like I may have a slight light leak from one side of the camera. I noticed that one side of the back of the camera will sometimes shift a little when I move it from one hand to another. Has anyone else had this problem with older TLR's?

I will likely get it tuned up/CLA'd... does anyone know a good place for servicing rolleiflexes in Canada? Also..does anyone have a good solution for straps and cases for these cameras?

Thanks!!

Rolleiflex Overhaul in Canada

see the post by GMBennett here:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

In 2006, I had my 1956 Leica M3 completely overhauled by Gerry Smith at Kindermann [Markham, ON, I think]. He did such a fine job that the previous owner continues to offer to buy it back from me.

I have 5 Rollei TLRs now, and had 3 of them overhauled by Harry Fleeenor: rolleirepairs.com. He is very good, and I am happy with his work. Obviously, it is expensive shipping to USA, paying importation taxes upon return, and Harry's backlog is 3-4 months usually.

Until recently, I didn't know Gerry Smith overhauled Rolleiflexes, otherwise that's where mine would have gone.

I've heard of TLR overhauls through Vistek [Toronto] but they may end up on Gerry's bench.

Also this: from Rangefinderforum, if I recall.


10-11-08 09:05 PM - permalink
Toffle
Update re Rollei CLA in Canada? Originally posted Sept. 3.
I finally picked up my 3.5f from Windsor Photo Outfitters http://photooutfitters.ca/
While it took somewhat longer than anticipated to have my CLA completed, I am more than happy with the work, and the price. Adrian Harte, the owner, takes a real personal interest in his customers and their gear. He did a wonderful job cleaning up my Rollei. In addition to realigning the shutter/aperture lingage, cleaning the shutter and all glass, resetting the focus rails (and the focus) etc., he worked some magic on the appearance of my lovely camera.

I went into this with a little trepidation, but I must say that in the end, I am more than pleased with the end result.

(and now my baby is back home...

Good luck.

Thanks Larry,

I had heard that Fleenor was the Rolleiflex guru but would prefer not to ship to the US right now. I'll contact Kindermann for more info.

rollei service

Gerry Smith and staff at Kindermann in Toronto serviced my Rollei SL66E last fall and did a great job! It took about 5-6 weeks and cost exactly the estimate price. I was, and still am, impressed. Good luck.

Cheers

Morry Katz
Lethbridge, AB

Gerry Smith at Kindermann Canada has done excellent work on a several Rolleiflexes for me (a 2.8D, 2.8F, and most recently a tele), as well as a Leica M6. He is also a patient and very pleasant fellow to deal with. I believe that he is semi-retired and may therefore not be in every day, but you can reach him at (905) 940-9262, and Kindermann (Canada) Inc.'s address is 361 Steelcase Road West, Unit #3, Markham, Ontario, L3R 3V8.

Another option, also in Ontario, Camtech Photographic in Hamilton (583 Concession Street, L8V 1B1). It's proprietor, Roger Burrough, is also very skilled and knowledgeable, and has put right some ebay finds (a Super Ikonta, a Baldax Super et al.) for me and can also repair old Rolleis.

There may well be a Rollei repair guy in Halifax, but if not, I have no hestitation in recommending the two gentlemen above, and you won't have to deal with the customs hassle of shipping to one of the repair options in the U.S. Just use plenty of bubble wrap and some foam peanuts and your Rollei will come back ready for action. Since you'll more than likely be getting your shutter overhauled in addition to addressing the light leak issue, you may want to go whole hog and have a newer brightscreen installed also. If it doesn't make sense to drop $200 on a Maxwell or Beattie brightscreen, even the plastic Chinese replacement screens you can find on ebay for about $35 or $40 are a big improvement over the old ground glass and will add to your enjoyment using your "new" Rollei. You can drop this in yourself (4 screws to take the hood off on the MX), but it's handy to have it done at the time of CLA, so you can have the tech make sure that the screen doesn't have to be shimmed.

Good luck, Graham

I have not had good luck repair/servicing Rollei in Canada. I ended up sending mine to Fleenor in Cali. The service was beautiful and the camera came back very very smooth. Here in Toronto I had a Rollei sent out to an "expert" that gouged the lens ring and said that "every screw was seized and the camera is not serviceable and a paper weight, and that'll be $25.00 for the refused estimate". I peeled some of the leather myself and tried a few of the screws that came out like the camera was made yesterday, rather than 60 years ago. I sent that one off to Jurgen Kuschnik and there was no problem, and it came back in great condition. He even touched up the gouge on the lens trim ring. Point is- make sure that you have a recommendation from someone who has had their camera service there. I ran into similar problems with an old Contax RF.