[rollei_list] Re: I feel complete now
- From: Jerry Lehrer <glehrer@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:04:16 -0700
Allan,
Congratulations on you acquisition of the Rolleiwide. It is a very
useful camera. You will love it!
On the missing spring, you will find that most camera repair technicians
will NOT sell you parts. They sell their services. I would normally
suggest that you
contact Todd Belcher, but he sold all his Rollei parts to Harry
Fleenor. However, Don Goldberg will sell Rollei parts. So try DAG,
I had a Rolleiwide several years ago, but found that I got better
results from a 50mm Distagon on my Hasselblad at half the price.
Congratulations also on your fiscal probity. I too am a number of years
away from retirement, but am on the wrong side! I retired in 2002 at 73
years
of age. I went back to work about 5 years ago as a consultant when the
787 Dreamliner started up. I had no real retirement income as I had pissed
away all my income on sports cars and racing them. That plus the
proverbial wine women and song! I did scrape together enough coin to
put down
1/3 the price of a house in La Jolla 47 years ago. That plus paying for
6 and a half years of a Nursing home care for my mother and mother-in-law.
Very few well laid financial plans can account for that.
Jerry
Allan Derickson wrote:
I picked up the last camera I've ever lusted after: a Wide Angle
Rolleiflex. I've wanted one for over 40 years but either never had
sufficient funds (early on) or couldn't justify the expense (later
on). I'm two and a half years away from retirement and one of the
things I've had to come to grips with is that I pretty much have all
the money I'm ever going to have. 25% of my salary is going into
retirement accounts, I'm helping my son with college tuition, and that
doesn't leave much for hobby expenses. My little non-retirement nest
egg I'm zealously guarding for emergencies, vacations, cars, and
absolute must-haves.
I wanted this camera as a user - I have no desire to admire a mint
example on a shelf in my den - so cosmetics were not an issue.
Functionality was, however, and I didn't want a camera that wouldn't
take high quality pictures, or at least after some work had the
potential to take nice photos. I've been seriously looking for about
a year. Last Christmas I thought obtaining a 0.7 Mutar would satisfy
my desire but no, it didn't, I wanted a 55mm Distagon. Fully
functional Rolleiwides in nice condition currently fetch from $3000 on
up unless you are uncommonly lucky and, like one fellow, stumble
across one at a church rummage sale for $850.
A few weeks ago one came up for auction on ebay that had serious
corrosion issues. I had no desire to take that on but I watched the
bidding. It went for over $1500. Then some time later I saw mine. The
seller's story was that it had sat in a desk for 30 years and the
shutter wouldn't fire and it would take about $300 in repairs to set
right. She had fairly decent photos of it and I examined them closely
looking for dents, nasty glass, or other showstoppers. It didn't have
the right viewing hood - looks like someone swapped it out for one
from a Rolleicord or a T. It had the optical glass back and the serial
number indicated it was fairly late in the production, probably built
around 1964. The leather looked well wore and the paint was worn off
the edges but it didn't look like it had suffered any serious trauma.
I decided to bid on it.
I got it with a bid in the last two seconds for $1671. It arrived the
other day and looked as expected. It had an old sticker from a studio
on the back so it was used commercially. I can tell by the leather
that it has been opened up and serviced in the past, probably multiple
times. As expected the optical glass plate was not included but
interestingly the pressure plate was set in the glass position. The
lenses look very nice. There are no signs of separation and no serious
cleaning marks. There is one small dent in the lower corner of the
front panel. It focuses smoothly. The shutter indeed does not fire
and feels like it is not being cocked as it is wound. My assumption is
a commercial photographer used it hard for 10-15 years and kept it
serviced until finally it broke and he decided it wasn't worth fixing
and just put it in a drawer.
I took off the crank side plate because that's easy and immediately
discovered the problem. A broken spring was rattling around in there
which is supposed to be connected to the cocking lever. It's actually
in a place I can get to with much disassembly of the winding
mechanism. Now, does anyone have any idea where I could obtain a
replacement spring? I've looked online and at my local hardware store
to no avail. It doesn't look like Micro-tools carries them.
I assume it will also need a shutter CLA but I'd like to fix the
obvious problem first and see where I stand.
Allan
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