[rollei_list] Re: Automat 'Tropical'
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:05:58 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "CarlosMFreaza" <cmfreaza@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 2:46 AM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Automat 'Tropical'
I live very close to the Tropicorn Tropic, our climate is
subtropical
to tropical and humid along the year, every day (except for
a few
days) the top temperature is above 29ºC from September to
June and
from June up to September we could get (it does not always
happen)
cold air coming from the Patagonia for some weeks, humidity
is high to
very high in general.
My father bought the 1954 Rolleiflex 2.8C in 1956 here and
then my
2.8C has about 60 years "living" under the conditions
described above.
I agree with Richard in general, but I'd add fungus as the
first risk
here for the camera/lenses, they proliferate and you need to
take
precautions like to expose your cameras to the light
regularly and to
change the air around the cameras regularly too, fungi need
stable
conditions for some time to grow.The Xenotar got fungi after
30 years
without problems because my father kept the camera into a
closet but
they could be eliminated without consequences for the lens.
The 2.8C
still looks good and works very well, ever main part is
original
except for a few gears that needed to be replaced due to
wear by use.
It has the original leather, only the front panel leather
shows a few
peelings in the black color (BTW the everready case helps to
keep the
leather).
My point is that I could say the 2.8C is a Tropical camera
or the F or
the 'cord IV too. I agree that the engraved "Tropical " word
for some
pre-war Rollei TLR models has to do with some oil, grease,
paint and
light material, they were regular cameras with some
diffeence on these
topics. It's a pity Claus Prochnow is dead, he had the means
and
direct sources (former Rollei employees) to look for a right
answer,
I'm sure he would be interested on the topic 'cause it would
touch his
collector vein; it's very possible a "Tropical" version
never crossed
his way and they did not find documents on the issue for his
books.
Carlos
From the various posts I am beginning to wonder if
"tropical" on the Rollei meant only that it was made for
sale in certain tropical countries and had NO differences at
all. As I stated there were tropical versions of some
cameras made. The English in particular had cameras to be
sold in their tropical colonies. These were made of Teak,
had NO leather covering, Russia leather bellows and,
perhaps, special corrosion resistant metal parts although I
am not sure of the last.
Old editions of the _British Journal Almanak_ have
copious advertisments for such cameras. I am pretty sure I
have seen ads for German-made tropical cameras, since
Germany also had, at one time or another, some tropical
colonies.
There really is nothing very vulnerable in a Rollei
other than the leather covering.
I do agree that the adhesive used to fasten the leather
may have been changed. One would want something that did not
support mold growth or attract insects.
BTW, Los Angeles can get quite tropical at times
although it usually does not last for long. Right now its
dry as toast but is supposed to rain again around Friday or
Saturday.
Rain in the city makes no difference to the chronic
drought conditions we have, most of it just runs off into
the ocean. What does help is a large snow pack in the High
Sierra mountains, that's really where our water comes from.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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