[Rolleiflex 6008 AF] Bizarre behavior

[hankchinaski]

Hi,

Today I was shooting with my Rolleiflex 6008 AF and a manual focus lens, and all of a sudden, the aperture reading on the display started to indicate exactly half of the aperture selected on the lens, and additionally, the DOF preview button was not able to make the lens iris close anymore.

I switched to a newer lens (AF) and the aperture readings were good on that one, but still no DOF preview.

I tried another non-AF lens on the camera and got the same behavior as with the first lens.

I removed the film magazine and noticed that I forgot to remove the paper binder from the roll and it had become stuck on the edge of the frame on the magazine, so the film had not actually moved so I took zero photos in reality.

I removed the piece of paper and put an empty magazine on the camera, but I got the same behavior, wrong aperture readings and no DOF preview.

What could it be? Maybe I blew a fuse in the camera or something like that?

 

[Pieter12]

Hi,

Today I was shooting with my Rolleiflex 6008 AF and a manual focus lens, and all of a sudden, the aperture reading on the display started to indicate exactly half of the aperture selected on the lens, and additionally, the DOF preview button was not able to make the lens iris close anymore.

I switched to a newer lens (AF) and the aperture readings were good on that one, but still no DOF preview.

I tried another non-AF lens on the camera and got the same behavior as with the first lens.

I removed the film magazine and noticed that I forgot to remove the paper binder from the roll and it had become stuck on the edge of the frame on the magazine, so the film had not actually moved so I took zero photos in reality.

I removed the piece of paper and put an empty magazine on the camera, but I got the same behavior, wrong aperture readings and no DOF preview.

What could it be? Maybe I blew a fuse in the camera or something like that?

Try a freshly-charged battery.

 

[ic-racer]

The aperture electronics in my first 6008i stopped working one day when I was trying a bargain-priced 150mm lens.
I tried other lenses on the 6008i and indeed the camera body can’t stop a lens down anymore, though all other functions work.

This happened a few years ago and my impression is the lens ruined the camera, but no way I’m putting that lens on any other camera body to find out!

 

[hankchinaski]

Try a freshly-charged battery.

Thanks Pieter, tried but no luck.

The aperture electronics in my first 6008i stopped working one day when I was trying a bargain-priced 150mm lens.
I tried other lenses on the 6008i and indeed the camera body can’t stop a lens down anymore, though all other functions work.

This happened a few years ago and my impression is the lens ruined the camera, but no way I’m putting that lens on any other camera body to find out!

The lens that was on the camera was certainly not a bargain lens (Schneider 40mm, new) and has worked for a while.

I think that the stuck paper leader, having prevented the film from moving must have put strain on the film motor that moves the wheel on the magazine and some internal component must have blown before the battery fuse has a chance to blow, which could cause the camera to not give enough power to the lens to close the iris.

I also noticed that when shooting, the iris also does not close.

That would not explain the camera reading exactly half the aperture though.

I’ll have the camera checked and report back.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Time for a CLA for the cameras and lenses. Get the problem rectified so that the camera can be used and enjoyed.

 

[4season]

Hi,

Today I was shooting with my Rolleiflex 6008 AF and a manual focus lens, and all of a sudden, the aperture reading on the display started to indicate exactly half of the aperture selected on the lens, and additionally, the DOF preview button was not able to make the lens iris close anymore.

I switched to a newer lens (AF) and the aperture readings were good on that one, but still no DOF preview.

I tried another non-AF lens on the camera and got the same behavior as with the first lens.

I removed the film magazine and noticed that I forgot to remove the paper binder from the roll and it had become stuck on the edge of the frame on the magazine, so the film had not actually moved so I took zero photos in reality.

I removed the piece of paper and put an empty magazine on the camera, but I got the same behavior, wrong aperture readings and no DOF preview.

What could it be? Maybe I blew a fuse in the camera or something like that?

I can only speculate as I've never examined the innards of a 6000-series Rolleiflex, but I certainly hope that the design isn't so fragile that the camera body can be damaged by an errant paper band or mounting a faulty (?) lens! Assuming no mechanical fault (broken gear, mechanism fouled by debris, etc), I might look to see if the design incorporates MOSFETs to drive electromagnets and motors, just like a kid's robotics project, as these parts take a beating, and they fail periodically. Exact replacements may be long discontinued, but they're generic enough that modern substitutes can generally be had at modest cost.

As for faulty aperture readings, very possibly just another symptom of the same underlying problem, as camera cannot complete some sort of initialization sequence.