What gear quirks have you discovered recently?

Gear that is getting old has a tendency to develop random little quirks as stuff wears out a bit, or unexpected 'features' that can catch one off guard.

Plus, some bits of gear left the factory with more than a few interesting little quirks of their own...

So what interesting little quirks of your medium format film gear have you discovered over the last while?


For me, I found 'fun and exciting' issues with two pieces of TLR gear:

1. Rolleicord - Not 100% what exact year/model mine is, but I've found that the mechanism to lock the film advance till after you've fired the shutter is very inconsistent in unlocking... Which leads to the film advance knob randomly not wanting to turn after taking a photo at times. It will work fine for one roll of film, and lock up every single frame on the next.

Thankfully the work around is easy: Just press the shutter while starting to turn the knob, and let off as soon as the film starts advancing on its own.

2. A Mamiya TLR 250mm lens that I recently picked up has a fun quirk, in that it will work just fine with no issues if the flash switch is set to X, but will jam the shutter cocking lever just enough to keep its spring pressure from letting it travel all the way to release.

I had noticed that it wasn't firing cleanly when I first picked it up, but it worked fine after being tripped a few times, so I chalked it up to simply being a bit sticky from sitting on a shop shelf for awhile - My other lenses from that system will do similar, and then be fine with acceptable timing till they're left to sit again.

And apparently there isn't a lot of difference in sound between that lever travelling all the way and tripping the shutter, and it jamming just before it would release the shutter, when you're using the faster few speeds...

I have no idea when that switch got flipped back, so I may have a lot of interesting photos of the inside of my camera from the first week or so of owning it. I may also have to reconsider gluing that switch... The novelty of having an unglued Mamiya TLR lens apparently wore off rather quickly.

Not specifically medium format, but every selenium meter that I currently own has to be set one full stop slower to give accurate readings. It's not too much of a pain to remember, since it's every selenium meter and they're all exactly one stop off.

There is a wierd little jiggle on the wind lever of my Yashica Mat 125G that I can do that then requires me to trip the shutter again before it will advance. So I can get double exposures on a camera not designed for them.

Discovered shooting the first roll with my Super Fujica-6.

The shutter has a long travel and clicks twice. First click is the frame advance unlocking, keep pressing for the shutter to fire.

Here is one. Older SLX 40mm lens on a Rolleiflex 6008i. When you first turn it on it reads low battery if the lens is set to manual. But if you then put the lens to Auto when you turn it on it reads full battery. Then it works fine with auto or manual, until you turn it off again.


Rolleiflex 3003 Polaroid back. If you don't press the Fuji packs tight up against magazine, closing the back won't have enough spring tension to seat it, so the images will all be out of focus (very little tolerance).

IC how about Durst quirks? There have to be a gozillion of those!!

Ok, here's one that makes no sense.

I have two Leicaflex SL's and batteries for them. When I bought the first SL, it came with a Varta battery (I don't remember the designation), and the meter worked fine. Then I bought the second SL and it, too, came with the same type of Varta battery. So, two identical cameras with two identical batteries. Both batteries were new.

Now, I don't keep batteries in my cameras for long periods, so I took the batteries out and put them both in a resealable plastic bag. I keep all my batteries in such bags, with a note identifying which cameras they're intended for. Then, not much later, I took one of the batteries out and the meter would not work on the SL. I grabbed the second battery and all was fine. Because I couldn't believe the first battery was dead, I tried it in the second SL - it worked. I spent about ten minutes swapping batteries and cameras and came to the conclusion that the second battery works in the first SL only and the first battery works in the second SL only. No amount of coaxing will induce them to work when swapped. Everything seems identical. It makes no sense, but that's what happens. I measured the battery voltages (admittedly not under load) and they were identical. Perhaps there's a different internal resistance in the cameras, but both batteries are essentially new.

My Nikon FE takes blurry pictures every time I get drunk! It's very frustrating.

Here is another quirk: the Voigtländer solid body B series of cameras (B, BL, BR) from the mid-1950s used the film sprockets to cock the shutter. Above the film gate is a toothed gear, and as the film advances, it turns this wheel and cocks the shutter. At least until recently, these cameras were a decent price on the big auction site because many sellers thought the shutter was not operating. It is hard to turn the wheel by hand - my index finger can attest to that. By the way, this is a fun little camera, back to basics, with a great Color-Skopar lens.

Luis-F-S said:

IC how about Durst quirks? There have to be a gozillion of those!!

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This is not unique to Durst, but small format enlargers usually don't have enough bellows draw to experience this. When doing a reduction, if you raise the head the image gets SMALLER.

Ever use a graflex xl? The whole thing is a quirk

GarageBoy said:

Ever use a graflex xl? The whole thing is a quirk

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No, but now I'm curious and want to use one.

My Holga leaks.

Andrew O'Neill said:

My Holga leaks.

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Is that a quirk, or a feature?

Luckless said:

Is that a quirk, or a feature?

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Depends on my mood

If you leaves a 35mm camera loaded with film for a few years even though it is off, the display with the frame number drains the batteries. Next time I will take the batteries out before I store the camera.

GarageBoy said:

Ever use a graflex xl? The whole thing is a quirk

Click to expand...

Always wanted one. Great lenses, compact,’lightweight, small size for a 6x9 negative. I finally got one and assembled a whole kit. It was so ungainly to use I never ran a roll through it and sold the lot.

When the camera has been properly serviced, it tends to work better. After I read the instructions, it has fewer quirks.

Let's see.

My Bronica S2 won't sync with my lights, my M645 needs to be set a stop over for proper metering, Argus C3's rangefinder is off but who cares? I need to double pump the film advance on my OM-1, don't drop a 110 camera or the film pops out (tape door sut. don't drop camera).

I can go on and on and on about my aging not very well serviced collection. My AE-1 leaks...sometimes. Pentax k1000 won't meter if the shutter speed is too high. ME Super does not meter properly, nor has any of the half dozen copies I've picked up meter well. Kodak Signet 50 has a marvelous lens as does my Voigtlander folder. Lubitel 2 can be as sharp as anything provided you stop down. Pentax Spotmatic II was the most surprisingly good camera I've used in a while. And I'm taking a break from point and shoots this summer. Yeah. Right.