Rolleiflex with broken meter?

dpurdy · Oct 17, 2008

You can get the Maxwell screen from Bill Maxwell directly and installing it yourself in an F model is very easy. Just email him..
http://www.mattclara.com/maxwell/

A bit of warning about the maxwell screen, If you plan to use the Waist Level Finder (as opposed to a prism), and you view your screen a lot through the pop up magnifier, the image on a Maxwell screen will go very dark in the corners if you get the micro prism/split image screen. Bill Maxwell will tell you that the plain screen is better for the Waist Level Finder.

I do have the micro prism/split image maxwell screens in both my Rolleis an it doesn't bother me but it does bother some people.

hughitb · Oct 17, 2008

dpurdy said:
A bit of warning about the maxwell screen, If you plan to use the Waist Level Finder (as opposed to a prism), and you view your screen a lot through the pop up magnifier, the image on a Maxwell screen will go very dark in the corners if you get the micro prism/split image screen. Bill Maxwell will tell you that the plain screen is better for the Waist Level Finder.

Thanks for that. I was planning on getting the split image one as I am used to that from using rangefinders but I do plan on using the WLF, so maybe I should reconsider this then ....

Marcust101 · Oct 17, 2008

Hugh,

I got a maxwell screen with the split prism and find it just fine. Focusing is very easy with the brighter screen and you can use the magnifier if necessary

Regards

Marcus

hughitb · Oct 17, 2008

I ended up plumping for the plain screen one with the horizontal and vertical crop lines. It sounds to me like they are all really good so you can't go too far wrong with whichever one you choose ..

Marcus: Here was I was thinking I would be the only person in Dublin with a Rolleiflex. Oh well. Do you think if we introduced them to each other they might start making little Rolleiflex babies?

JPD · Oct 18, 2008

hughitb said:
Marcus: Here was I was thinking I would be the only person in Dublin with a Rolleiflex. Oh well. Do you think if we introduced them to each other they might start making little Rolleiflex babies?

I think I can answer that question. The answer is "No". You don't have to be an expert in biology and metallurgy to...

Oh. Now I got it!

The Rolleiflex babies are nice cameras. I wish more of them were in use, so the demand for 127-film would be higher. I wish to see Efke R25 in 127.

hughitb · Dec 20, 2008

I finally got this back from servicing .. everything seems fine .. maxwell screen looks great. So, all good until I got around to loading some film into it today. I loaded the film and normal, wound it on until I could see the "start" thing on the paper, closed up the back. Then I strarted turning the winding crank (which moves very smoothly now) ... and kept turning it .. and turning it .... but the film counter did not start moving from 0 on to 1 as it normally would. I continued winding with no movement of the film counter until the entire roll of film had been wound from one reel to the other!

I'm not sure whether this is something I am doing wrong with the film loading (though I had no problem before) or something got messed up in the service. Anyone got any ideas?

BrianShaw · Dec 20, 2008

120 film, right?

Did you remember to load the film BETWEEN the rollers?

dpurdy · Dec 20, 2008

Yes hughitb, you don't need to worry about lining the arrows. You just put the leader under the first roller as you start it. Actually it is between two rollers though one of the rollers is under the first one and you put the leader between the two. The slightly hidden roller is a feeler and it feels the tape the film is attached with as it passes through so then the camera automatically stops the advance and starts the frame counter.

hughitb · Dec 20, 2008

Ah .... I *think* I put the film between the two rollers the first two times but I just tried it again, this time making sure. And bingo .. it worked.

As I said, I am almost sure I did it right the first two times as well but suspect I may not have closed the camera properly and that might have interfered with the functioning of the feeler thingy.

Thanking you both ..

Hugh

elekm · Dec 20, 2008

By the way, if you want to respool 120 on to 620 spools, the Rolleiflex is perfect for this. Just don't feed the film through the rollers, and you can crank through the entire roll in about 30 seconds.

dpurdy · Dec 20, 2008

It is possible that the feeler roller is out of adjustment though since you just got it back from service that seems unlikely. On my 2.8F the feeler roller is out of adjustment a little.. just enough that it works fine on all films except Fuji Acros which has very smooth thin tape. I actually put one layer of masking tape around the roller, the one the film goes under, and that did the trick. Reads the Acros tape every time.
Dennis

hughitb · Dec 21, 2008

dpurdy said:
It is possible that the feeler roller is out of adjustment though since you just got it back from service that seems unlikely. On my 2.8F the feeler roller is out of adjustment a little.. just enough that it works fine on all films except Fuji Acros which has very smooth thin tape. I actually put one layer of masking tape around the roller, the one the film goes under, and that did the trick. Reads the Acros tape every time.
Dennis

That's interesting because the film I was using initially was Neopan (could have the same issues as Acros?). The film I got it to work with was Rollei. I'll shoot the roll of Rollei and then try a roll of Neopan. I'm 99% sure it was my error though and that it will work fine ...

Rolleiflexible · Dec 21, 2008

dpurdy said:
It is possible that the feeler roller is out of adjustment though since you just got it back from service that seems unlikely. On my 2.8F the feeler roller is out of adjustment a little.. just enough that it works fine on all films except Fuji Acros which has very smooth thin tape. I actually put one layer of masking tape around the roller, the one the film goes under, and that did the trick. Reads the Acros tape every time.

My 3.5E loads all film correctly except
Efke films in cold weather -- go figure.

hughitb · Jan 6, 2009

Ok so the problem was that I was not closing the camera properly when loading the film. However now there's another problem

The film loads and the winding crank brings the counter onto to 1 correctly and I am good to go. I shoot off the first exposure and then go to wind on for the second one. Winding crank will not move forward. Shutter will not fire a second time either. If I wind the winding crank back and bit though, and then forward, it seems to release the shutter and allow me to make a second exposure. Unfortunately this second exposure is right on top of the first one, giving me an interesting, but unwelcome, double exposure on frame 1.

Everything then works fine to the end of the roll e.g. winding on correctly etc.

I have tried this with two rolls of film (one Rollei and one Neopan). Same both times ...

Jeff L · Jan 6, 2009

That sounds very strange. Have you asked the guy that serviced it? I would suspect/expect that it be corrected under warranty. They are amazing and reliable cameras. Sorry you're have trouble with yours. I have two, one from '37 and one from the 60's and both are very reliable and work perfectly with no quirks at all. Don't give up. For the future, there's a guy in Germany (Jurgen Kuschnik www.jurgenkuschnik.com) did a great job on my Automat. Factory trained and all that stuff.
Jeff

dpurdy · Jan 6, 2009

Now it sounds like you are accidentally hitting the double exposure switch right at the base of the film advance crank. I don't know why it would do it on it's own every time. To do a double exposure you are supposed to move that little serrated edged switch towards the arrow on it and that disengages the shutter cocking from advancing the film.

hughitb · Jan 9, 2009

Jeff - I won't get back to the guy who serviced it until I am 100% sure there is something wrong and it's not just me screwing things up (which is the case 99% of the time). Which brings me on to ...

dpurdy - that could be it, but I'm not sure that I could have accidently done this twice in a row. Anyway, I will investigate further.

You know, in spite of the problems I am having with this camera, I really really like it. I have so far exclusively used it to take indoor pictures of my daughter and nieces. Usually wide open (2.8) in not great light. The results have a really outstanding quality to them. The in-focus bits are so sharp and the out-of-focus parts have a beautiful creamy quality and fantastic tones.

archphoto · Jan 9, 2009

Dear Hugh,

Could yoy send me a close-up from the "trouble-spot " ????
I have restored my 2.8F over 20 years ago, I still have it and it still works great.
Repairing the ploblemm involves: taking off the cranck, the leather-look-like and the side plate.

Maybe I can help.

Peter Morisson
archphoto@aol.nl

dpurdy · Jan 9, 2009

hughitb said:
dpurdy - that could be it, but I'm not sure that I could have accidently done this twice in a row. Anyway, I will investigate further.

You know, in spite of the problems I am having with this camera, I really really like it. I have so far exclusively used it to take indoor pictures of my daughter and nieces. Usually wide open (2.8) in not great light. The results have a really outstanding quality to them. The in-focus bits are so sharp and the out-of-focus parts have a beautiful creamy quality and fantastic tones.

I used to do it apparently accidentally, not a lot but more than you would think and I never was able to catch myself do it. Hasn't happened in a long time now. I did on occasion do it 2 or 3 times in a row at the first frame. Definitely a head scratcher. Hopefully that is all you have done. When you do it you must cover the lens and trip the shutter once.

The Planar and Xenotar have a beautiful quality wide open. A little hard to get exactly in focus due to such limited depth of field but creamy and nice.. good bokeh or is it bouquet?
Dennis

hughitb · Jan 10, 2009

Ok here's a scan of the front of the camera. I am not sure which lever is the double exposure thing (I have circled both of them in red). So could someone tell me:

1. Which one is the double exposure switch?
2. Is it currently set for double exposure?

Peter - thanks so much for the offer of helping me fix it but at the moment I am pretty sure it doesn't need fixing and that it's simply a question of user error.

By the way, one of the shots I accidentally took with double exposure came out really well. I think I will make a print of it and show it to my d*****l/photoshop loving friends and enjoy their confusion when I tell them I made this image with a 40-year old camera

archphoto · Jan 10, 2009

You photographed the wrong side ! I need a picture of the part where the film-advance-crank is, with the crank in the operating position.

On this photo: 1) selftimer control and flash control, now set at X, but F is allso posible
2) lock for shutter release, so you don't accidentaly make a photo when you don't want to

Greetings,
Peter

archphoto · Jan 10, 2009

How can I put a picture here ?

hughitb · Jan 10, 2009

Ok gotcha! Will try and put one up later ...

You add a picture by clicking the "manage attachments" button that you will se when you scroll down when making a post ...

archphoto · Jan 10, 2009

Hopefully this works.....
The arrow shows how the dubble exposure ring should be at it normal setting.
If not, give me a yel, than I can give you advise how to fix it as long as no parts are missing.

Greetings,
Peter

hughitb · Jan 10, 2009

Ah ok ... it is currently set exactly as it is in Peter's picture. So I think what I need to do now is wait until the current roll of film is finished, load in a new one and then check that, in the process of loading it, I am not accidentally setting the double exposure. If I am, then I just have to make sure I don't do it or just set it back. If I am not, then there must be something wrong with the mechanism.

Thanks all!

Rolleiflex with broken meter?

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