Rolleiflex 2.8E help needed!

[John Wiegerink]

I dug out of my closet an old Rollie 2.8E that stopped working on me years ago and need some parts. I decided to restore it and need a new screen and the screen clips also. Does anyone know where to locate the flat spring screen clips? Also need a good screen replacement. Are the eBay Chinese screens worth looking at? JohnW

 

[BrianShaw]

I’m no help with your specific need, but a general comment: the Chinese replacement parts have been quite good for a few years. Exceptional in some instances. If they have what you want you should give them a try; you’ll likely be very pleased.

 

[Dan Daniel]

Contact Rick Oleson. Best bang for the buck out there. He'll provide installation instructions, focus setting info, etc. https://rickoleson-brightscreen.com/

He has screen clips, also- https://rickoleson-brightscreen.com/screen-clips/

The cheaper Chinese screens- $20-30?- have very rough fresnel lines. I haven't seen the higher end screens, but the price is comparable to Rick.

edit: Brian Shaw, what has been the price on the screens you mention? It's been a while since I ordered a screen from China. Maybe the lower end ones have improved in quality.

 

[Nitroplait]

I bought some screens from a Chinese ebay seller that is mentioned here and there on the web when screens are discussed. They were about 20-25 USD. Much brighter than the original but grainy - However, the split image makes for faster focusing but that is the only aid you'll have, you can't focus on the surrounding area- they are a great improvement for composing though.
They where sold as compatible with my 3.5C, but they were a millimeter too large and had to be sanded down.
I'd probably wouldn't bother again and go straight for the Oleson brightscreen.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I just ordered one of the Chinese screens to try. If it doesn’t work out well on the Rollei I have an old Yashica it can go on. I checked Rick’s site and he has the clips, but it looks as if the screens are now $100.00. I’m going to fire and email to him later tonight and find out. JohnW

 

[Ian Grant]

I bought one of the Chinese screens for my Yashicamat 124 a few years ago, then kept forgetting to take it to Turkey where the camera is I put it in a Microcord instead, essentially a British Rolleicord, it's a lot better than thr Microcords dim original screen, but I do like the original screen in my 3.5E2.

Ian

 

[benveniste]

It took quite a while, but should be getting my pre-war Rollei back from ZeissIkonRolleiRepair.com in a couple of days. I'll report back on the results.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I dug out of my closet an old Rollie 2.8E that stopped working on me years ago and need some parts. I decided to restore it and need a new screen and the screen clips also. Does anyone know where to locate the flat spring screen clips? Also need a good screen replacement. Are the eBay Chinese screens worth looking at? JohnW

John, I was playing around with replicating gridlines on ground glass screens, and made one to fit a Rolleiflex. It’s useable and the gridlines are same size as on original (width of the line and spacing). You’re welcome to it, to use until your other screen comes in or to make fun of my attempt. Just send me a PM with your mailing address and I’ll send it to you.
-Jason

 

[John Wiegerink]

John, I was playing around with replicating gridlines on ground glass screens, and made one to fit a Rolleiflex. It’s useable and the gridlines are same size as on original (width of the line and spacing). You’re welcome to it, to use until your other screen comes in or to make fun of my attempt. Just send me a PM with your mailing address and I’ll send it to you.
-Jason

Jason,
That's a very fine offer and I really appreciate it, but I have my screen problem solved. Yesterday I dug around in my goodie boxes and found a very nice 3.5F screen I had as a spare to my Rollei 3.5F. I decided to cut it down to the 2.8E size and try it. What a world of difference it made. I'm still going to order a couple of screen clips from Rick Olsen. I only need one, but it would be nice to have a spare on hand just in case one goes flying into outer space. I now have the shutter apart to touch up the slow speeds and give it a good cleaning. I got the wind sequence fixed last night and should have it all done by this weekend. I hope! I'll post a picture of it when I'm done. It won't be perfect, but it will be good enough for my user camera. I wish I would have taken a before picture just to compare before and after. Before it was a non-working beater for sure, but still to nice to be setting in a closet. Thanks again for the kind offer. JohnW

 

[Nodda Duma]

Awesome!

 

[John Wiegerink]

Well, I finally got the 2.8E finished. It now runs like a Swiss watch. I thought I had it done Sunday and put it back together, all but the faceplate. I then decided to run it through its cycle, but when I tried the self-timer it froze the shutter. So I had to open up the shutter to clean the self-timer speed gears again. Put it back in a tried it. JAMMED again! Pulled it back out and found the self-timer gear train had a broken spring in it. I reformed the tiny spring, put it back in the shutter and PRESTO it worked as it should. Put it all back together, ran a roll of film through the old girl and it works perfect. The repairs included self-timer, slow speeds, film feeler, cut down 3.5F screen and wind spacing sync. Plus, new skin and touch up. I'll post some pictures tonight after I scan the film. I'm happy I can retire my 3.5F for a while and use this as my everyday user Rollei. JohnW

 

[John Wiegerink]

The desktop PC at the cottage, which happens to have my scanner attached to it, now has the "blue screen of death" . I'll have to resolve that problem at a later date. I'm now home now and use my wife's PC, but still no scanner. Here are a few pics of the camera anyway. It's not perfect, but perfect enough for me since I'm more concerned about function over appearance.

co.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Well, I finally got my Dell PC back up and running and can now scan again. I'll be posting some of the shots from the Rollei later this afternoon. JohnW