----- Original Message ----- From: "Thor Legvold" <tlegvold@xxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <rolleiusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:06 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] OT: Treasure chest
Well, tonight two big boxes arrived, full of camera equipment.
My grandfather passed away recently, he was an avid photographer all
his life. My uncle as well, although he passed quite a while ago my
aunt decided it was time to clear out his photo gear and find a good
home for it.
So it's here. Most of the stuff I have a vague inkling as to what
is,
but no more than in passing. I've concentrated all my time shooting
on manual mechanical cameras for the most part (i.e. Rollei, Contax,
Nikon FM2).
I'm hoping anyone who knows about the equipment can give me a few
leads as to where I can learn more, also I have some specific
questions regarding several specific items.
Baby Grey Rollei (with film still in it, as far as I can tell). From
what I can tell, finding film for this is going to be a pain. It has
a Xenar lens, and actually looks to be in pretty good shape except
for some loose leather. My son has been bugging me to get him a
camera (he's only 5....), maybe this would be one for him to play
with (he ruined the (broken) EOS I got him when he was 3...) as he's
a lot more careful now.
Polaroid Land Camera Model 95A. This one is a beast, and a wonder of
modern design (I'm guessing from the early to mid 60's). A 'compact'
folder that goes right along with a nice old Caddy with fins and
all... Chrome and brown leather, looks to be some medium format.
This
is a wild camera. The lens looks like cr*p, but the camera itself is
a marvel of mecahnical engineering.
Nikon F. There are 2, one early (642xxxx serial) with a
"Demonstrator" stamp at the bottom of the back cover and one later
(741xxxx) with the coupled light meter finder. The older one
looks to
be in better shape, sounds great, lens is old but clean (both come
with matching 50mm f1.4). I'm sure both could use an overhauling.
Also, both are showing signs of corrosion ('patina') on the metal
top
deck. Is there any good way to clean this to restore the orginal
finish? The older one looks like it's seen it's share of violence,
dinged and bent here and there, but has a really terrific feel to
it,
shutter sounds fantastic, etc. I love the removable back to change
film, just like the Contax II/III. I think my FM2 suddenly has some
competition...
Is there an equivelant of Harry Fleenor and Jürgen Kuschnik for
Nikon? Are these worth having overhauled at all, or am I wasting my
time (and money)?
Nikon F4. This one would be interesting to try out, as I've avoided
whiz-bang auto-everything cameras as much as possible (excepting the
Rollei 6008). But it seems to have some sort of problem. It looks
like new, comes with a compliment of lenses (both MF and AF), has
the
6 battery motor (I guess that means it's an F4s) and even data back
(with dead battery, will have to remedy that in the morning). When I
turn it on, the battery indicator shows full charge (I also tried a
set of fresh AA cells and got the exact same problem), the lens
focuses, but there is no light in the display. There does seem to be
info there, but no green backlight. Then, when I hit the shutter,
nothing happens. The display goes blank, and about a minute later
the
camera suddenly fires on it's own. Usually a red light by the ISO
setting wheel (left of finder) blinks repeatedly. I've downloaded
the
manual and had a quick look, but haven't found out what the problem
might be. It's an imposing camera with about a gazillion switches
and buttons, it will take a while to learn what everything does
(assuming it can be brought back to life).
I'm guessing that the camera has been stored where there was a
lot of
moisture and/or salt in the air (my aunt and uncle lived in
Huntington Beach, for all I know the cameras were stored on their
boat, or maybe in the garage). Most of the lenses for the F4
unfortunately have some amount of fungus growing, some quite a lot.
Is there any way to remove fungus? I've used regular lens cleaner
(Kodak) and lens paper on most of the glass where there wasn't too
big a problem. However one of the rear elements of one lens
(probably
the most expensive one, I'm guessing) is covered with fungal
flowers.
I didn't touch it yet, in case there's a proper way to deal with it.
Nikon lenses include:
AF Nikkor 80-200/2.8 ED
AF Nikkor 85/1.8
AF Nikkor 28-85/3.5-4.5 (I'm guiessing this is what came with the F4
as bundled new)
AF Micro Nikkor 60/2.8
MF Micro-Nikkor 105/4 (this is a weird looking lens)
There is also a set of something I'm not sure what is, looks like
extension rings or adapters. There are some bayonet fittings as well
as screw threads, and each ring has a letter A, B1, B2, C and D.
Also inclued was a selection of filters, from UV to Circular
Polarizers.
Graflex Century Graphic (the plastic version) with Kalart
rangefinder
and two lenses, an Optar 101mm/f4.5 (I think this is a 4 element
Tessar design) as well as a Schneider Angulon 65mm/f6.8 in a Syncro-
Compur. The camera and extra lens look like new. There are also many
backs. The one on the camera has a ground glass viewer and seems to
be attached by some spring-loaded mechanism (I'll have to find a
manual for this one). There are several Type 5 graflex backs, as
well
as a plastic 'Fidelity Deluxe' copy of same, and a Graphmatic film
holder (looks like you can preload metal holders in a magazine that
automatically shifts the old films behind the darkslide). Also
included is a Singer rollfilm back. As soon as I figure out how to
remove the back that's mounted I'll have a go at the others.
Is 2x3 cut film still sold, or should I simply go with 120 rollfilm?
The frame looks to be about 6x9cm, is that correct?
I'm looking forward to trying this one out. I had considered picking
one up on eBay to try out, now I don't have to mess with eBay at
least. It even has movements! Very cool.
Well, I wanted to share all this new stuff with someone, and figured
who better to appreciate it than you guys here on the list. And I'm
hoping some of you know enough about the gear to give me a few tips
about it.
Best regards,
Thor
I am a long time Nikon-F user. Its a great camera despite some
of the
lenses not being quite up to Canon's equivalent.
The Century Graphic was the first camera Graflex made with the
Graflok
back. This is a universal back which has since been adopted by
most makers
of press type cameras. The spring loaded ground glass panel is
removable by
means of two hooks at the sides and slide locks are provided for
accessories
such as roll film holders. The later ones have a built-in fresnel
lens,
early ones do not.
There is much additional information at http://www.graflex.org
You are correct about the Grafmatic holder, the Graflex site has
instructions for loading it. The best of the roll film holders
were the ones
made by Singer with the yellow lever for winding. These have extra
rollers
for holding the film flat. The roll adaptors use the same reversed
curve
arrangement used in the Hasselblad.
The Optar is a Wollensak Raptar in disguise. These are Tessar
type
lenses of variable quality. You may have a good one. I've found
that the
Raptar version has what appears to be a design error causing
excessive coma
or perhaps its oblique spherical aberration (they look the same
but come
from different causes). In most f/4.5 Tessars the coma is
completely gone by
f/8 but there is some residual smearing in the corners with these
lenses
even when closed down all the way. You will be able to tell right
away by
looking at bright small highlights in the corners of the image.
The shutter
is also Wollensak, a house branded version of the Rapax. These are
very good
shutters and can usually be brought to original specs. Wollensak
used hair
type springs which are relatively easy to make if they need to be
replaced.
One feature of the Rapax/Graphex shutter is that the trigger pull for
tripping it is uniform at all speeds. This makes the shutter much
more
reliable when used with a synchronizing solenoid. Most of these
shutters
have internal flash synch that can be set for either strobe or
flashbulbs.
The bellows is made of a synthetic material. Graflex seems to
have used
this from about 1940 on. Its virtually indestructable and rarely
develops
pin-holes unless seriously abused.
These are neat little cameras. Sheet film is available from
Freestyle.
The Graflex made "Riteway" holders are the best of class,
Later Fidelity
Deluxe holders are also good, I don't like the earlier ones
because they
tended to warp. I have probably a fifty or more Graflex 4x5
holders and
nearly all are good. The chances with other brands of older
holders is
chancy.
I posted an alignment procedure for the Kalart side
rangefinder on the
Graflex site but it needs to be revised. They are not difficult to
set up
but it can be a tedious job. Once set, however, they are quite
stable, the
infinity corrector (on the side of the camera bed) might need a
touch up. If
you want more contact me off list (or on list if there are enough
Speed
Graphic fans here to tollerate it). The Speed Graphic is my second
favorite
camera (you guess the first favorite).
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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