The basics of camera and lens dismantling/adjusting/cleaning

dnjl · Nov 1, 2011

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for resources that will help me to understand the basics of camera repair. I don't aim to become a mechanical engineer, I just want to know the essence so that I can do the most basic CLA. Good repairmen are hard to come by where I live, and sending my gear out for CLA is very expensive. Last week I had a local camera dealer look at a sticky shutter in my Zeiss Super Ikonta. He told me he'd fix it and he did, but he did a very bad job. There are scratches on the lens coating and there's a lot of dirt and lighter fluid residue (I assume that's what he used) inside the lens. The camera is unusable as is, I ran a roll of film through it and the results look like they come from a Holga. That's not what I want from a Zeiss Tessar lens.
As I see it, all I have to do is dismantle the lens and clean up all the crap this guy left behind (he must be blind not to notice). Obviously, this is going to be much harder than it sounds. That's why I'm looking for a good guide that'll help me understand the basics of camera and lens mechanics. By the way, I do have a disposable (SLR) lens to practice on first.

In a nutshell, I want to be able to perform basic CLAs on my own cameras and I need good sources that can teach me the knowhow. I want at least to be able to do the following:
- clean the interior of a lens
- clean sticky shutters and aperture blades
- calibrate rangefinders
- apply lube where necessary (eg. squealing mirror on a Canon A-1)
- I have already replaced light seals and mirror foam (yay for me!)

Suggestions are most welcome :wizard:

lxdude · Nov 1, 2011

My first suggestion is to go back to that "repair" guy and smack him on the back of the head.

dnjl · Nov 2, 2011

lxdude said:
My first suggestion is to go back to that "repair" guy and smack him on the back of the head.

I'd do that, but he's a 70-year old paranoid cripple who recently announced in a local newspaper that he would personally chop off the legs of thieves with an axe he always has at hand (his store was broken into repeatedly). I know from experience that this guy cannot be argued with, and I'd rather not have him look at the camera again.

Steve Roberts · Nov 2, 2011

Pick up a copy of Tomosy's Camera Repair and Maintenance Vol 1. You might later wish to get hold of Vol 2 as well, but I wouldn't worry about it until you've familiarised yourself with the contents of Vol 1. You'll recover the cost of the book the first time you clean a lens or un-jam a camera, but beware - you'll soon find yourself buying all kinds of duff cameras that you'll feel an uncontrollable urge to fix!
Best wishes,
Steve

guitstik · Nov 2, 2011

I have been trying to locate both volumes but it seems that they are no longer in print and the secondary market hasn't been fruitful either.

lxdude · Nov 2, 2011

waltereegho said:
I'd do that, but he's a 70-year old paranoid cripple who recently announced in a local newspaper that he would personally chop off the legs of thieves with an axe he always has at hand (his store was broken into repeatedly). I know from experience that this guy cannot be argued with, and I'd rather not have him look at the camera again.

Like I said, smack him on the back of the head-that way he won't see it coming!
Then run--what's he gonna do, chase you?:devil:

dnjl · Nov 2, 2011

Steve Roberts said:
Pick up a copy of Tomosy's Camera Repair and Maintenance Vol 1. You might later wish to get hold of Vol 2 as well, but I wouldn't worry about it until you've familiarised yourself with the contents of Vol 1. You'll recover the cost of the book the first time you clean a lens or un-jam a camera, but beware - you'll soon find yourself buying all kinds of duff cameras that you'll feel an uncontrollable urge to fix!
Best wishes,
Steve

Thanks! That sounds like the exact thing I was looking for.

By the way, I managed to clean the Ikonta. Apparently all I needed to do was unscrew the back element, open the shutter and clean all four surfaces. The lens looks clean now, though the scratches remain. I hate myself for trusting that guy, I really do. He actually filed down the slots where the lens spanner wrench goes and painted over the damage with black ink so that I wouldn't notice. I mean, come on

paul ron · Nov 2, 2011

Google is your friend. There is so much information on the net that you can become an expert just by joining forums n asking questions. So many old repair guys are willing to help, even post pictures for ya.

Check these out....

http://www.kyphoto.com/cgi-bin/forum/search.cgi?method=last&number=7&units=1440&tree=ON&where=all
http://www.nelsonfoto.com/SMF/
http://photographic.co.nz/cameraworks/
Dead Link Removed
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~Srawhiti/retinalist.html
http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/manuals.html

Just to name a few.

Rick A · Nov 3, 2011

Try this:
http://www.fargo-ent.com/learn.html
they may be helpful.

Mark Crabtree · Nov 3, 2011

Your Super Ikonta is likely a good place to start slowly getting a feel for this, though I don't know exactly which version you have. The Tomosy books are a nice reference, but not easy to follow if you don't already have some experience (and then sometimes not).

You can see the Tessar lens design here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessar
Front is on the left.

dnjl · Nov 3, 2011

Mark,

Thank you for the detailed answer. I looked up some basic folder designs on the Internet and was able to restore my 533/16 BX. I unscrewed the back lens element with my hands (didn't have a lens spanner wrench), opened the shutter and cleaned all elements thoroughly using distilled water with a drop of dishwashing soap and a lot of Q-tips. Then I removed the focusing ring and unscrewed the front element and cleaned those surfaces as well. There was no need to remove the second element, as I could get at it from both sides. I loaded some wax paper on 120 rolls and used this as a ground glass to recalibrate the focus at infinity (courtesy of David Richert). Now all I have to do is put a tiny bit of lubricant onto the gears and helicoid (it's not as smooth as I'd like it to be), repeat the calibration and shoot a test roll. I'll also give the leatherette a nice rub and shine up the metal parts.

As you can see on this test shot (before), the focus (infinity at 5-8m) was off by a large margin and the grime inside the lens had a very visible impact.

I will post some test shots when my work on this camera is complete. I don't want to stop here though. I'll get the suggested readings mentioned in this thread and turn myself into a semi-qualified repairman.

John Koehrer · Nov 4, 2011

Careful with the lube. A white lithium grease works well but don't use the grease gun from the garage=) A LITTLE dab or two with a small brush will be plenty.

dnjl · Nov 20, 2011

My calibration turned out to be a failure. I think I'll need a decent ground glass after all. Plastic just doesn't cut it.

John Koehrer · Nov 20, 2011

You can make your own GG with a glass from a picture frame and polishing compound. Do you have anything like a thrift store over there?

Oh Boy, another project! =)

jnoir · Nov 21, 2011

When I started doing my own repairs more than 10 years ago (I'm on my late twenties now) I just started picking up cameras and simply taking them apart to understand how they work. Taking notes and recording on video everything, specially at the beginning of the learning curve, is one of the few good advices I got when I was on your situation. My advice for you'd be: start with easy, simple, cheap cameras. The Super Ikonta is a CRF and not one of the easiest designs to work with (although well documented on the net, which may be of help). Your approach also does not grant a clean Ikonta, but one where some glass surfaces are now more or less clean. A good CLA involves Cleaning (everything, not just the glass), Lubricating (a few shutter points, RF linkage, focussing helix, etc) and Adjusting (recollimation of lens, readjusting of shutter speeds as required, etc).

Oh, and for focussing, I just had a glass square cut to size, and applied Scotch tape to one side.

flatulent1 · Nov 21, 2011

I just stretched some scotch tape across the gap, no need for glass. With that and a loupe I was able to fix the focus on my Nettar.

The basics of camera and lens dismantling/adjusting/cleaning

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