Old "original" Rolleiflex repair in the USA?

[Greg_E]

The search seems to be letting me down today, I get lots of hits for "repair" but try as I might I can not get & Rollei or & rolleiflex to give me anything different. I know the info is in here somewhere, so please forgive me.

I am thinking of getting my old "original" model 'flex repaired and wanted to find out who in the USA might work on them. I was going to do it myself, but just have not had the time in the last 4 years to even start. The finder hood is in bad shape, and I'm sure that the shutter needs a little attention. Would be nice if I can get the lens polished too, but not a deal breaker. Might have to send the lenses to Arax and let them do their magic.

I want to make this my everyday carry camera after getting it functional and putting new leather and paint on it. A complete restoration is the desire.

If anyone has a good "original" model finder hood that they don't want, I'm in the buying market. I'll have to look up the serial numbers again, but I think mine was from the second year of production or late first year. I'd like the parts to at least match the same model as there are similar hoods used on later models but they were a little different in styling.


Any help would be welcome, thanks. I will add some pictures later today so that everyone can see exactly what I am working with. Overall it is in decent shape except for the finder hood which really needs to be replaced or have new pieces machined.

 

[dpurdy]

http://www.rolleirepairs.com/

http://www.krimarphoto.com/

Those are the two most reputable.

 

[Ian Grant]

Arax stopped offering lens polishing services and coating a year or two ago.

But there are others.

Ian

 

[Jeff L]

You may have to try some other places too. I have used Harry Fleenor at Oceanside (rolleirepair,com) and he did a nice job on my 3.5F. He would not do my '37 Automat because he said it was too old, Krikor said the same thing. Jurgen Kuschnik ended up doing it and did a great job too.., but he went back to Germany. You may try zeissikonrolleirepairer.com (Mark Hansen) I have never used him but have read he has a good rep.
Hope this helps.

 

[Greg_E]

Oddly enough, when I was looking for parts cameras I see Cameraworks listed on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150369593209

I'll email the other two and see if they want to take a stab at it.

Just pulled it out of the box and surprised that the shutter still fires on all speeds, just not accurately.

 

[Greg_E]

Thanks for the other place... I do have people I know in the UK that might be able to help me communicate and ship after sending the camera to Europe, so it's not that big of a deal. It would just be kind of neat to get this old camera looking good and functional.

 

[Larry.Manuel]

I spoke with Gerry Smith this summer, and he works on Rolleiflexes. Contact him through Kindermann in Canada. If Gerry agrees to do it, it'll be done properly. He's a consumate craftsman and restorationist. He surprises people by repairing 80-yr-old Leicas.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Greg_E]

Here are some pictures (NOT dial up friendly!!!) that I grabbed today:

http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/1.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/2.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/3.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/4.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/5.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/6.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/7.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/8.jpg
http://www.dfaprinting.com/stuff/9.jpg

The mirror is shot and the red window is more like pink now. The leather is starting to crack and as mentioned the hood is in need of some repair. Other than cleaning scratches the glass looks good. Serial number on the front is 64930 and the serial number inside the back is 017953.

Also forgot that I'll need to mess with 620 sized film, think I can just trim the rolls of 120 down and be careful about light leaking past the edges.

 

[Greg_E]

Looks like this is a model K1 612 or 614 from the very first series:
http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/all_TLR.shtml

 

[Jeff L]

Just remembered Ken Ruth, Photography on Bald Mountain. www.baldmtn.com
Ken does unique, rare and old cameras. He has a great, great reputation. He did my Super Ikonta including repairing the meter. Really worth a look.
Good luck. I'd like to see photos from it and how it turned out.
Jeff

 

[Rolleiflexible]

The usual Rolleiflex repair guys might
not touch one of the old Standards. In
addition to the folks above, you might
ask Paul Ebel, the Rolleiflex tech with
whom I entrust my own Rolleiflexes:

paulebel44@yahoo.com

The recommendation for Ken Ruth is
well-advised. Also, you might try
Frank Marshman in Virginia:

Frank Marshman
Camera Wiz
(800) 471-8133

Frank restored a 1930-vintage
Voigtlander Superb TLR for David
Goldfarb several years ago, which
I now own and shoot -- the work
was quite good, and the Superbs
are rarer than the old Standards.

 

[Greg_E]

Thanks, I'll start tracking them down later today and see who might be interested. If it wasn't that this is the first model it wouldn't really be worth fixing, but it is one of the very first and I expect it to be somewhat rare by now.