Re: [Rollei] Another shutter question

[Richard Knoppow <dickburk >]

At 08:47 AM 08/31/2001 EDT, you wrote:
>I forgot to add a concern that was made yesterday about my shutter test.
The 
>dear guy that owns the local photo lab here handled it yesterday while 
>developing my test shots and was concerned that the shutter stickiness might 
>be more than a cleaning job.  The shutter doesn't stick wide open, it just 
>doesn't respond at all half the time.  He sold this very camera model in his 
>first job in 1955 and knew every detail about its production and operation.  
>But it has been many years since he's seen one.  He brought this up and
added 
>that it might be something that could be adjusted or replaced in the
cleaning 
>anyway without being a big deal.  Just wanted to add this to the mix in my 
>price paid consideration.  Feedback?   
>
  I'm just catching up on the list. 
  If the shutter doesn't fire at all it could be that its not being fully
cocked. There is an internal adjustment for the stroke of the shutter
cocking lever. If the camera is a real beater there may be enough wear so
that the adjustment is at the limit of its range. The cocking stroke can
also be affected a little by the centering of the lens board on the
focusing carrier. Sometimes, if the stroke adjustment is just slightly off
the camera will cock with the focus at one extreme and not the other since
it changes slightly with the position of the lens board.
  BTW, when checking Rolleis for purchase the cocking action should be
checked at both ends of the focus range. 
  If its an adjustment it can be accomplished during a cleaning. If worn
parts more work is needed, I think the entire film advance crank must be
removed to get at the cam.
  I tried this once on a beater 2.8E and wound up taking the thing to Harry
Fleenor, who made it perfect. 
  I think Rollei TLR's are all old enough now to assume they need an
overhaul. Since this is skilled work it isn't cheap and must be taken into
account when calculating the value of the camera. For the most part Rollei
TLR's are well designed and very well built and reasonably easy to work on
considering the complexity of the automatic features in the flex. That
makes them worth the cost of repair. Rolleicords seem to be built with
equal quality, the lower cost coming from simpler design. 
  With all the warnings about eBay I must say I bought the 2.8E at a camera
show from a supposedly reliable person. I thought I checked it out pretty
thoroughly but really didn't. I didn't know a tenth of what I do now about
Rolleis but don't know that I would spot the problems even now. The fact is
we are discussing equipment which is a minimum of about forty years old. If
you bought a 1950's car you would expect it to have problems, somehow we
expect even antique cameras to operate just like they were new (and they do
surprizingly often). 
- ----
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles,Ca.
dickburk  

------------------------------