Help, Rollei(?) TLR with bad flare.

tokam · May 9, 2012

The scans below are from a 120 roll of Tri-X, Expiry 04/2011 which I developed last night in HC-110 1:50 for 8 mins at 21 degrees C.
Next time I will probably give another 2 mins for this combination.

I didn't shoot the film and I haven't seen the camera which was used. I gave the film to a friend of my wife's who said that her husband
owned a Rolleiflex which hasn't been used for quite some time and wanted to try it out.

The flare affects 10 out the 12 frames to a lesser or greater degree. The flare is constrained to the negative area masked by the film gate
and does not affect the film rebates or the area between frames which are clear as they should be.

This would tend to rule out a light leak from the back of the camera as the rebates and inter-frame area of the film are unaffected.

Could a leaf shutter misbehave this much, say half the shutter leaves being slow to close thus producing an overexposed area on part of the film?

My other thought is that there is a light leak at the bottom front of the camera where the lens panel slides back into the camera body for focussing,
the camera may have been dropped?

As I said earlier, I haven't seen the camera and if it is indeed a Rollei TLR then it has a problem.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem with a TLR?

BobD · May 9, 2012

It doesn't look like lens flare to me. Perhaps a damaged shutter blade or some other oddball light leak.

Steve Toner · May 9, 2012

Looks like a light leak. I have a 2.8C that had a problem like this. There's a bag bellows between the lens and the body - it was actually missing when I bought the camera... Other models have a tube arrangement, so don't have this problem.

Dan Daniel · May 9, 2012

I'll second Steve Toner's comment. Looks similar to a bellows leak from an old folder.

Another possibility is a missing screw or bolt somewhere around the film chamber. I was going crazy tracking down a leak in an Autocord and finally discovered that the holes for the screws that hold the focus scale in place go through into the film chamber. On a Rolleiflex, maybe either the door latch or one of the pin locators on the bottom front edge is missing and the hole goes through?

Find out the camera model, or have them send you a couple of snapshots of it.

pschauss · May 9, 2012

I had a similar, but less extreme problem with my Rolleicord. I sent it to Krikor with a couple of prints showing the issue. He did a complete CLA and replaced the light seals. He never told me exactly what was causing the light leak that I was seeing, but he did say that there was a good bit of corrosion in the shutter and I have not had a problem with the camera since.

George Collier · May 10, 2012

Strange kind of fogging. Especially since the rebates and in betweens are ok. They are all in the same place, more or less, and vary mostly in severity. Thinking back, does the severity relate at all to the amount of time the lens cap was off (while setting up, posing, etc?) - may be happening before of after exposure. Just a wild thought.

sandermarijn · May 10, 2012

tokam said:
I didn't shoot the film and I haven't seen the camera which was used.

You will have to get your hands on the camera. Probably a light leak, should be easy to detect. Unless your friend made a mistake loading/unloading. Interrogate her!

Shame about the lost photos, they seem very nice to me.

tokam · May 11, 2012

Thanks for all your thoughts on this. I will contact the owner this weekend and see if he'll let me borrow the camera for a couple of days.

I don't know what his long term plans for the camera are. Hopefully he'll consider a CLA / repair. I'm now trying to track down a repairer in OZ in case he wants to go ahead with fixing it.

I'll let you know how it all pans out.

Dan Daniel · May 11, 2012

There are a few serious Rollei owners in Australia on this forum-
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108
Do a search and I bet some good repair shops will pop up.

Richard S. (rich815) · May 11, 2012

This isn't lens flare, it's a severe shutter issue or light leak from a busted front standard.

Richard S. (rich815) · May 11, 2012

Steve Toner said:
Looks like a light leak. I have a 2.8C that had a problem like this. There's a bag bellows between the lens and the body - it was actually missing when I bought the camera... Other models have a tube arrangement, so don't have this problem.

My 2.8C does not have a bag bellows. ??

Steve Toner · May 12, 2012

rich815 said:
My 2.8C does not have a bag bellows. ??

Are you sure? Crank it to minimum focusing distance and see if you can see it between the lens and the body (through the back). I sent mine to Harry Fleenor for repair when I found it had the light leak, and he did not report that there were pieces missing (e.g., tube), so I assume that the bellows is how it was originally built.

Richard S. (rich815) · May 12, 2012

Steve Toner said:
Are you sure? Crank it to minimum focusing distance and see if you can see it between the lens and the body (through the back). I sent mine to Harry Fleenor for repair when I found it had the light leak, and he did not report that there were pieces missing (e.g., tube), so I assume that the bellows is how it was originally built.

I'll take a look. I have a number of models and will compare them too....

Richard S. (rich815) · May 12, 2012

Well, my 2.8C (Xenotar) has film in it presently so I cannot check just now. My 3.5E (Planar) does not! Others also have film...

Help, Rollei(?) TLR with bad flare.

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