Lee Miller's Rolleiflex Automat

[philipus]

Hello everyone

Would anyone happen to know what the connector (or whatever it is) at the top left of Miller's Automat Model 1 is (photo from this Sotheby's Magazine article).

Am I right that in thinking it was not standard on the Model 1, and that also the lugs for the flash solenoid were retrofitted?

Thanks in advance
Philip

 

[Pieter12]

Not sure, but all the Automats seem to have it. Looks like a knurled knob, maybe a lock or release of some sort.

 

[Pieter12]

A little more digging comes up with it is part of the sports finder mechanism, to lift the magnifier.

 

[Dan Daniel]

You mean the disk, partial cut from the top edge as it intersects the front rim, center dark area, upper left of lens panel?

Looks like an electric flash PC socket but hard to be certain without more detail of center part. If so, this is one of the first Rolleiflex MX models! You have a simple electronic connection, and a solenoid delayed flashbulb connection.

 

[Ian Grant]

You mean the disk, partial cut from the top edge as it intersects the front rim, center dark area, upper left of lens panel?

Looks like an electric flash PC socket but hard to be certain without more detail of center part. If so, this is one of the first Rolleiflex MX models! You have a simple electronic connection, and a solenoid delayed flashbulb connection.

I would go further and say definitely the flash socket, the Sotheby's link also shows the flash bulb holder. I have seen similar fla sh bulb delays on Press cameras, in photographs.

So amplification.

Ian

 

[philipus]

Thank you for your replies. I'm sorry I described it poorly, I should have marked up the image. Yes I mean this thing:

The Automat Model 2 that I have lacks this connector and I don't believe it came standard with the Model 1. However both Model 1 and Model 2 have a flash cable socket, which is at the bottom right. It's no. 13 in this page from the manual:

I'm guessing it was retrofitted for some purpose, possibly use with more modern flashes.

cheers
philip

 

[Dan Daniel]

#13, labeled Flash Cable Socket, was not always a flash cable socket. On many Rolleiflexes of this type, it was a cable release socket. I can't say with any certainty why the difference. If it was changed at a certain date, or if it varied from camera to camera, or such.

Looking at the photo of the actual camera, it looks like a cable release socket, not PC flash connection. This camera was a pre-WWII or so model, based on the gray paint circles on the shutter and aperture dials. Maybe this was the dividing line between cable release and flash socket.

There was a decent amount of empty room inside these cameras. Allowing for attachments like the flash bulb solenoid. And for adding a PC flash socket and running wires, etc.

 

[Ian Grant]

Actually you described it well, I fully understood. It is the 1937 to 39 Automat, with no shutter lock, and no flash connector, until modified.

As Dan says where the Flash sync is shown #13 on the later versions it is the cable release socket on Lee Miller's Rolleiflex Automat.


Ian

 

[JensH]

Hi,

#13, labeled Flash Cable Socket, was not always a flash cable socket. On many Rolleiflexes of this type, it was a cable release socket. I can't say with any certainty why the difference. If it was changed at a certain date, or if it varied from camera to camera, or such.

Looking at the photo of the actual camera, it looks like a cable release socket, not PC flash connection. This camera was a pre-WWII or so model, based on the gray paint circles on the shutter and aperture dials. Maybe this was the dividing line between cable release and flash socket.

There was a decent amount of empty room inside these cameras. Allowing for attachments like the flash bulb solenoid. And for adding a PC flash socket and running wires, etc.

Hi,

the camera is the very first Automat from 1937, even the Tessar is from 1937 by it's serial. In 1938 the Automat was fitted by a shutter release protection, Miller's camera doesn't have it here.

The contact marked in magenta is indeed a pc flash sync, a modification not made by Rollei.

Indeed the cable release socket is here where the flash socket was in later Automat's. #13

 

[philipus]

Thank you everyone for your continued help. So Miller's had a PC sync fitted later by a third party, it seems.

Is it possible to say if it was done during WW2 or later? I searched for info and according to Wikipedia the PC connector first appeared in the early 1950s. But looking closely at the image above, it seems the connector on Miller's camera is slightly different from "normal" PC connectors, or? It looks like the centre part is wider, though granted it is difficult to tell from a photo.

I also need to correct what I wrote above about my Model 2. It does indeed only have the cable release socket in the lower-right corner, not a flash connector.

cheers
philip

 

[Ian Grant]

Sashalite Flash Bulbs were introduced in 1932, I have 6, see this page for details. Initially they were fired by a button on the holder, or a cable release. By the late 1930s there were more choices,

Lee Miller was using a US flash holder. If you do a Google search for 1930s 40s Press photographers you will see many Press cameras with flash holders, and 3rd party modifications for flash sync, to delay the leaf shutter by a few milliseconds.

It's very easy to add X flash sync to an old leaf shutter (for Electronic flash). The Rolleiflex Automat X (K4) has X sync in 1949, However you need a mechanical delay between a flash bulb being triggered and the shutter opening, for M flash sync.

The 1951 Rolleiflex Automat MX (K4A) had a Compur Syncro shutter so could be used with Electronic Flash & Bulbs.

Ian

 

[Ian Grant]

Have a look at this webpage, an Anniversary Speed Graphic with a Kodak Compur shutter, and note the cylindrical attachment below the shutter for Bulb sync.

Ian

 

[philipus]

Thank you very much Ian. I searched for images of press photographers and found the one below. The flash cable goes into the solenoid, and I assume there would need other be a cable from the solenoid into the camera to trip and sync with the shutter.

Could it not be that what the instruction manual calls "flash cable socket" means "socket for attaching the cable from the flash solenoid"? That makes logical sense to me at least, but I don't know how solenoids were connected, of course.

cheers
philip

 

[Dan Daniel]

There are two basic flash sync types. X, electronic flash, the connection that fires the flash happens when the shutter reaches maximum opening. And there is no delay. Shutter is fully open and flash fires at some time. On your Lee Miller camera, the upper left connection is the X flash. Think of a simple switch- switch is closed, flash is triggered and reaches full brightness at this time. There is a wire between the flash connector and a switch inside the shutter. No part of the solenoid system is involved.

Bulb (M or F, typically, let's ignore that) is, in Miller's and Ian's samples using a solenoid to offset the flash being triggered and the shutter opening. To fire the camera, you press a button on the solenoid. At that time, a switch is closed to the flash. The flash bulb starts firing and reaches maximum brightness after a short interval (15 milliseconds, is it?). After this period of time, the solenoid activates the shutter itself.

In post 8 by Ian, there is a second shutter release button. It is concentric with the D in Rapid, and above and to the right a bit of the cable release socket. This button is simply an extension of the same mechanism that releases the shutter using the 'normal' shutter release, lower left front concentric with the M in Compur. The solenoid has a hook that latches onto this secondary release.

Now I do not know how it works, BUT- the solenoid pulls on the secondary release and fires the shutter. This is timed out so that it fires the shutter at maximum bulb brightness.

SO- electronic flash- press regular shutter button, circuit is closed in shutter and it fires flash at same time as it releases shutter. Bulb flash- you press a button the solenoid. It closes circuit on bulb. Then latch travels and releases shutter after the proper time to allow bulb to reach maximum brightness.

On the Lee miller camera the latch and the secondary shutter release are hidden by the lens hood.