Technical repair advice on body and lenses for cameras

Laurent said:

Hi Kurt,

this is very kind of you!

I'm currently restoring a F1 Old, and there is a light baffle at the back of the mirror box. I suppose the purpose is to shield the lightmeter from light coming through the eyepiece.

This is falling to pieces, and I'm wondering what could replace it. Microtools sells material for shutter curtains so that would be my choice, but I'd appreciate a reality check.

Also, would you know what the special tool to align prism rails for the F1 looks like?

Thanks in advance
Laurent

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Laurent,

Sounds like you might need to replace the light seal foam. We get it from B&H and they get it from Japan Hobby Tool. You'd probably need to get a thicker foam and one that has adhesive backing. You can scrape out the old degraded foam, clean it up then replace with the new foam. Regarding the tool to align prism rails, You may not want to get in there and do any adjustments... as it becomes quite technical.

We hope this helps!

-Kurt's Camera SD CA

kurtscamerasdca said:

Regarding the tool to align prism rails, You may not want to get in there and do any adjustments... as it becomes quite technical.

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But you underestimate us, nothing is crazy enough for us

Therefore any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

kurtscamerasdca said:

Laurent,

Sounds like you might need to replace the light seal foam. We get it from B&H and they get it from Japan Hobby Tool. You'd probably need to get a thicker foam and one that has adhesive backing. You can scrape out the old degraded foam, clean it up then replace with the new foam. Regarding the tool to align prism rails, You may not want to get in there and do any adjustments... as it becomes quite technical.

We hope this helps!

-Kurt's Camera SD CA

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Thanks Kurt!

My question about adjusting the prism rails is about putting the rails back in place. I'll try to see how it goeswith no tools, otherwise I plan on 3D printing some kind of "body cap" to protect the screen, this may help. I'll make something that goes well on my other F1.

The other issue is not about light seal foam, but a piece of adhesive cloth that sits at the back of the mirror box and isolates (I think) the CdS cell from the finder. There is a similar material at the bottom of the mirror cage, it shields a lever.

kl122002 said:

Hi!
I recently serviced a Rolleiflex SL35M and it is working now. The only minor flaw is the winding process gets hard near the end section . Perilously it was jammed seriously so I had used naptha to flushed out lots of dried old lubtricants. Is that the cause ? And which area should I put in new lubricant?

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KL - Rolleiflex are a little tougher. We don't work on them here but we have a guy we send them out to. Our lead tech said the issue could be that it's out of time but not much more on this one. Sorry!

-Kurt's Camera SD CA

Laurent said:

Thanks Kurt!

My question about adjusting the prism rails is about putting the rails back in place. I'll try to see how it goeswith no tools, otherwise I plan on 3D printing some kind of "body cap" to protect the screen, this may help. I'll make something that goes well on my other F1.

The other issue is not about light seal foam, but a piece of adhesive cloth that sits at the back of the mirror box and isolates (I think) the CdS cell from the finder. There is a similar material at the bottom of the mirror cage, it shields a lever.


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Will check on this over the weekend and early next week.

-Kurt's Camera SD CA

kurtscamerasdca said:

Bill, we replied to that post today. Not much to add on that thread, lots of similar comments... "The lens needs to be cocked so the timing is accurate. If he cocked the camera and not the lens, they won't sync up."

Kurt's Camera SD CA

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Thanks for helping. Ralph knows that. He said so in post #6.

If you’re not aquainted, Ralph is co-author of “Way Beyond Monochrome” a popular and thorough book about black and white film photography. It’s similar in scope and quality to Ansel Adams’ three books. It’s primarily illustrated with Ralph’s photographs taken with Hasselblad equipment.

You could be right that the issue is due to the requirement for both lens and body to be cocked, but for Ralph, because of his experience, it’s likely an alignment fault or wear and tear issue that make the parts not line up the way they’re supposed to when they’re both cocked. As you say, something to figure out by having the camera in hand.