Rollei 35 S Issues

[neal_o-shaquille]

I own a Rollei 35 S that is acting up a bit... After advancing the film advance lever fully and pulling it back, the lever does not lock like it is supposed to, essentially allowing me to advance the film again and again without ever taking a photo. On top of that, if I only advance the lever partially, pull it back, and then try to finish advancing it, it gets stuck and no longer fires upon pressing the shutter release. I then have to open the camera up and manually advance the film spool until I hear a “click” which will then allow me to release the shutter. (you can see how this would be an issue if there was film in the camera haha).

I have tried taking apart the top plate of the camera to get a look at the internals to see what's going on (it's currently open on my desk if anyone would like to see some pictures, but I can't seem to figure out what's causing the issue... If anyone has any experience with these / knows of any resources that'd be great!

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I own a Rollei 35 S that is acting up a bit... After advancing the film advance lever fully and pulling it back, the lever does not lock like it is supposed to, essentially allowing me to advance the film again and again without ever taking a photo. On top of that, if I only advance the lever partially, pull it back, and then try to finish advancing it, it gets stuck and no longer fires upon pressing the shutter release. I then have to open the camera up and manually advance the film spool until I hear a “click” which will then allow me to release the shutter. (you can see how this would be an issue if there was film in the camera haha).

I have tried taking apart the top plate of the camera to get a look at the internals to see what's going on (it's currently open on my desk if anyone would like to see some pictures, but I can't seem to figure out what's causing the issue... If anyone has any experience with these / knows of any resources that'd be great!

I had ne of these cameras but, it spent more time at Rollei to be epaired than with me taking photographs. Las time, it took forever coming back.so,I just left it with them and forgot about it;never missed it after getting a Nikon FM.

 

[John Koehrer]

I'd suspect lubricating the double exposure prevention latch. There should be a pawl that runs along
the edge of the large transport gear. It could be partially hidden under the edge of the gear.

A tiny touch or oil is all that's needed.
Another related item though is the possibility of a disengaged spring. Same area though.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

FWIW: On SLRs (which the 35s certainly isn't) the double exposure prevention mechanism is often under the bottom plate. I have no idea if this is also the case with the Rollei, but if you can't find it up top...

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Hey all! I actually fixed the issue this morning. You were both correct about the prevention latch being the issue - it seemed to have slipped out of place a few notches in comparison to the film advance gears, so when the shutter finished being cocked, the latching mechanism was actually past the locking point. Moving the latching gear a bit with the actual latch extended allowed me to correctly orient it so it latched on one full crank of the advance lever! Everything is working as expected!

Thanks for the insight!

 

[Huss]

Hey all! I actually fixed the issue this morning. You were both correct about the prevention latch being the issue - it seemed to have slipped out of place a few notches in comparison to the film advance gears, so when the shutter finished being cocked, the latching mechanism was actually past the locking point. Moving the latching gear a bit with the actual latch extended allowed me to correctly orient it so it latched on one full crank of the advance lever! Everything is working as expected!

Thanks for the insight!

Good work Shaq!

 

[e2d2]

Hello! I think I am having this same issue, but I am having a hard time understanding how to fix it. I uploaded a video here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogCommunity/comments/tslsoo/problem_with_rollei_35s_shutterclosing/

what do you mean by moving the latching gear with the latch extended? thanks!!

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Hey! Yeah you definitely have a similar issue to what I was experiencing - in order to fix, unfortunately you have to take the top off of the camera to get inside the lever mechanism. Basically what's happening is there are two plastic gears that help cock the shutter that have slipped a few notches where they're supposed to be in relation to the rest of the winding mechanism. Because of that, when you're winding it up they're going past the correct point and not falling into place to lock the winding lever.

A bunch of these videos helped me get the top off:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rollei+35s+repair

If you are willing to attempt it, it's pretty straightforward to open it up providing you're used to tinkering with small electronics and stuff. Go ahead and watch those videos if you are willing to open it up yourself and have the correct tools (mainly small screwdrivers are all you need - some of the other tools they use in the videos can be subbed with household items lol - I used a paperclip once or twice). If you can get the top off successfully let me know and I can try to walk you through the repair - mine failed again a few months back and I managed to fix it again so hopefully I'll be able to help! Next time it breaks I'm making my own video of the repair lmao.

Lemme know how it goes!

 

[e2d2]

thank you so much for your reply! I'm not used to tinkering with small electronics, but if the fix isn't too invasive, I might try it out. I emailed someone about getting it repaired and it was out of my price range...

are the gears you're talking about on the top of the camera? if so, that seems like an easier fix than opening the whole thing up...

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Oops sorry I missed your reply! Yeah the gears are on the top side of the camera but underneath the top metal plate, so you have to take that off first to get to the gears unfortunately.

 

[e2d2]

well...i got it open! but i'm only seeing one plastic gear? or am i looking in the wrong place? thank you so much again for your help!!

 

[e2d2]

oh, maybe you mean the white gear located underneath the black gear and spring? seems out of sync with everything else https://imgur.com/a/bgiOFL6

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Hey again!

Great job getting it open!! Yeah exactly, both the white gear and the black parts that sit on top of it / under the spring are misaligned. You can realign everything by taking the top black gear with the screw in it off (by unscrewing it, of course). However once you realign everything you'll have to re-tension the spring by turning the top black gear one or two full rotations and then screwing it back in with the tension held and the silver winding gear in the correct place to hold the tension. Might take a few attempts to get it all set correctly.

One other thing you can try is to hold the lever circled in red in the image attached (the locking arm) past the rest of the gears with like a paperclip while cranking the winding gear to try to get the rest of the mechanism to reset, but not sure if that will work or not!

Might take a little fiddling to get it working but you're like 80% there!

 

[e2d2]

gah!! i do feel like i've almost got it, but not quite. i am starting to think it's a problem with the locking arm? i can't figure out how to get it to lock (lol)

 

[e2d2]

you have already helped so much so if you want to be done with this then i totally understand. but if you like a challenge (partially due to the camera and partially due to my incompetence lol) this is why i think that. but i know next to nothing about mechanics of cameras so idk https://imgur.com/a/QqOhDWk

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

No worries at all, I'm happy to help as much as I can! It doesn't look like the white gear at the very bottom is turning when you wind the camera, which I believe is supposed to happen. I think that gear is what primes that white lever to lock into the black pieces of plastic under the spring, preventing it from continuing to wind. If you're confident going one step further I'd try to unscrew the black part that holds the screw and pull everything on that shaft out, to see what's going on in there. You can re-seat everything so that it all turns correctly and you should be able to do a full wind. Either that or you can keep trying to move things bit by bit as you crank to hopefully knock it in place!

 

[e2d2]

it seems like something just won't stay cocked? in this video, i did finally get the gears to move together (woo! after taking the black gear off and adjusting), but it keeps resetting, and i can never get it into a position where the shutter release button does anything https://imgur.com/a/qi79VOK

also i am laughing at the disintegration of my nail polish throughout this process lol

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

lmao sometimes we all gotta make sacrifices!

But yeah I think you're almost there! Iirc (take a look at your previous videos as well to confirm), the two "dots" on the top black gear with the screw (those like weird little bumps) need to be perpendicular to the silver metal winding gear - basically I think that black gear might just be a few notches off to where it's supposed to be. Try lifting the metal winding gear up and moving the black gear one notch at a time and then try cranking to see if it works as it should. Just remember not to let the black gear lose it's tension when you're lifting up the metal one!

Next step if the above doesn't work is to go just a touch deeper and remove the housing of the metal winding gear. There's one more gear in that shaft that might be out of place, which was the case with mine the second time it broke. You can see the 4-5 screws that hold that brass bracket over the winding shaft - if you were to remove those you can get access to that mechanism. From there you can basically make sure everything is at it's "starting" position.

Good news is I was in basically in the same exact situation you're in now and I was able to fix it, so you can definitely do it! Getting major PTSD from watching all these videos though lol.

Keep me posted!

 

[e2d2]

shaq, this is beginning to feel like an impossible feat i made progress, but idk...i took some more parts off, and i did get the shutter release to work once, but it's still not fixed. i think i might have to go back in and adjust the gear farther down again (the white one?): (i narrated this one bc i thought it might be more clear)

as always....thank you for your help!

 

[e2d2]

ok! after some internal adjustment i got to the point where i can wind the advance lever all the way, and at the very end, the shutter releases. so i can just wind over and over again. still broken but this feels like progress somehow lmao

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Ah sorry for the delayed response, missed these notifications!

Yeah it sounds like you’re super close, all I can imagine is that theres a gear somewhere that’s one notch off or something which is preventing the locking mechanism from catching on the black plastic pieces. Unfortunately at this point idk how to help outside of just suggesting some more trial and error, which it sounds like you’ve been doing plenty of lol.

Awesome that you’ve made such progress though! And yeah I guess you could either stop here and just have to deal with it not locking and maybe wasting a frame or two by overwinding, or keep going to try to get it right. Either way though great stuff! Of course update here if you end up fixing it completely!

 

[snusmumriken]

I'm surprised to learn that there is even any plastic in these mechanisms. Does that apply to earlier models (plain Rollei 35 w/Tessar lens) too?

 

[neal_o-shaquille]

Yeah, actually thinking back I believe mine has that top black gear in brass, but the ones underneath were definitely plastic, and I remember reading the original 35 also had that top gear in plastic.

Seems like they made a few updates depending on when / where they were made!

 

[Huss]

I'm surprised to learn that there is even any plastic in these mechanisms. Does that apply to earlier models (plain Rollei 35 w/Tessar lens) too?

Don't look inside a Zeiss Ikon ZM or any of the Bessa R series. I don't think there is a metal piece in there. And mysteriously I've had film transport failures with two of these cameras.