Rolleiflex 4x4 shutter problem

Hi guys,

This is my first post, so I'll introduce myself a bit. I'm Rob, I live near Sheffield in the UK, I've been into photography for about 3 years, with the main interest from the start being film. I tried a DLSR, but it never really did it for me. I've got a pretty large collection of cameras now, all of which I use at some point. This ranges from Minox, all the way thorough to 6x9. I haven't tried large format yet, but I'd love to in the future. My favorite subjects to shoot are the streets and everything that's on them, be that people, interesting graffiti or architecture. I got into photography while I was studying for a degree in Music in Leeds, but am now looking at doing a masters degree in fine art, with a focus on photography.

Now thats over I'll get to the point!

I've been looking at a 'baby' 4x4 rolleiflex in a shop locally, and while the camera looks in good condition, the shutter seems not to work. I don't even get any sound from the shutter at all. On other cameras with a similar shutter, I've at least heard the shutter trying to work, and i can see the blades moving a little, but nothing happens here. I beleive there may be some sort of multiple exposure interlock working here, but I'm unsure of how to check this. Anyone got any idea how I can fire the shutter without loading a roll of film?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long winded post...

Rob

First of all, welcome to APUG.

Your Baby Rollei is a beauty. A friend of mine actually gave me one a couple of years ago. I've just checked the manual, and it appears that one must load the film to fire the shutter.

From the Manual:

The synchor-compur shutter is a between the lens shutter with evenly graduated speeds from 1/500th to 1 sec. and can be released only when the camera is ready to shoot; even the viewing hood must be open, since it acts as a shutter safety guard when closed"

Hope that helps.

That does indeed help

But I'd still quite like to be able to see if the shutter will work before i buy ideally. Anyone know how i can get it to fire without a film in there?

You don't need film in the camera to test the shutter. However, you need to raise the hood, as has been mentioned.

And when you rotate the film advance knob, make sure it moves about 1/4 turn past the spot that has a lot of resistance.

You can open the back when you test the shutter.

If the shutter won't open, then it needs to be serviced.

The Compur shutters are very sturdy and are rarely damaged. In most cases, they simply need to be serviced.

It should fire on all speeds. What usually happens is that the shutter will release on 30, 60, 125, 250 and 500. Sometimes, it will release on 15 and then drag or stutter on the rest.

Also, there is a self-timer on this camera. It's on the little switch on face of the camera. It's the "V" setting. Move the little tab to either the lightning bolt or the flash bulb -- that's your flash-sync setting.

If the self-timer is not working correctly (very common), then the shutter won't fire.

I thought it could be a problem with that...

so if i set the switch to M or X it could work? But if the self timer is stuck, couldn't this jam the shutter? Because as I said, on other similar cameras that have had sticky shutters, I've at least got it working at the faster speeds...

Thanks

Rob

If the Rollei is like $25 USD it would make a nice project. The shutter may indeed be gummed up and they are not that hard to work on. If you can't get it going then you are only out $25.

If it were me, I'd spend a little extra and get a 120 TLR that works from the start. Is there some other reason you want to do 4x4 rather than 6x6?

As the camera was significantly more than $25 (it was £115, roughly $180), and thinking about it, i think this is probably too much even for a wworking camera. It was in pretty much mint cosmetic condition, with the case, lens hood and cap.

To answer you question, I wanted the baby as a novelty to add to my collection, as I already have a full size 'flex. But thinking about it now, I might come across a cheaper on on eBay, or didn't Yashica do a copy? which might be cheap...

Thanks anyway guys

Rob

Yes, at $180 I agree thats too much for a camera that you will need to fix. Yes, indeed Yashica had a 4x4.
There are a bunch of them here. Prices a little high, but from a dealer I would hope they would be in working condition.
http://www.manfredschmidt.com/yashica.html

If you have a slide projector, those 4cm-square super-slides are reputed to amazing!

Larry.Manuel said:

If you have a slide projector, those 4cm-square super-slides are reputed to amazing!

Click to expand...

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Tru. But 6x6 transparencies can be cut down to fit four by four slide mounts easily enough.

I decided to leave it, I'll save my pennies until something else comes along

Or sink it into some film, which, thinking about it, I deseperately need...

Thanks guys, I've a feeling I'm going to like it here

Rob

[
Thanks guys, I've a feeling I'm going to like it here

Rob[/QUOTE]

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The gals give great input, too.

Anscojohn said:

[
Thanks guys, I've a feeling I'm going to like it here

Rob

Click to expand...

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The gals give great input, too.[/QUOTE]

Hehe, didn't mean to be sexist. I meant it in the unisex sence!