[rollei_list] Re: Rolleimagic Meter and Shutter Woes
- From: Carlos Manuel Freaza <cmfreaza@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 16:07:45 -0700 (PDT)
Thank you Marc, interesting summary and BTW you are right, Compur shutters were
more reliable than Prontor shutters and Prontor shutters manufactured today are
closer to the old Compur shutters quality than to the old Prontors shutters
quality.
Metrawatt is the Gossen-Metrawatt company and "GOSSEN Foto- und Lichtmeßtechnik
GmbH" (= photo and light-metering)is an autonomous unit from 1997:
http://www.gossenmetrawatt.com/default.htm
http://www.gossen-photo.de/english/text.html
Marflex had selenium cells and Rolleimagic lightmers as new spare parts a few
years ago and then perhaps Krikor has some of these parts now.
I agree with you a bout the selenium cells for lightmeters, they are very good,
however it seems they are no longer used for new professional lightmeters.-
Carlos
--- El mar 7-oct-08, Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx> escribió:
> De: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
> Thanks, Carlos. There is much of myth about the
> capabilities of the Rolleimagic but allow me to set the
> record straight.
>
> Albert Gauthier, the Zeiss Foundation subsidiary
> which made Prontor shutters, was then located at
> Calmbach, hence the "AGC" logo. Calmbach is a
> farming town. Gauthier stored up orders from
> March through October and then provided
> off-season employment to strapping German
> farm-boys. As a result, Prontor shutters never
> had the reliability of the products of the OTHER
> Zeiss Foundation subsidiary, FW Deckel, makers of
> the Compur. And repairmen HATE working on
> Prontor shutters as the innards are far more
> delicate than are those in Compur shutters. They
> ARE repairable, but it is sometimes hard to find
> someone willing to work on them.
>
> (Oddly, when the Zeiss Foundation decided to
> reduce the field to only one shutter company,
> they chose Gauthier. Deckel was gutted, its new
> factory turned over to Gauthier, and Deckel was
> then placed in bankruptcy. Go figure! The last
> Compur size 0 shutters went to the early 2.9GX Rolleiflex
> cameras.)
>
> It is ALWAYS said that selenium meters "wear
> out". This is so much bull-puckey. Selenium
> meters do not wear out: they CAN be degraded
> through moisture getting into the cell. Prewar
> cells were not really weather-tight so selenium
> cells often did got bad. Postwar cells are much
> more effectively sealed -- fortunately, Postwar
> meter cells remain available for almost all
> Weston meters and for the Zeiss Ikon Contax III
> and Super Ikonta BX, so a defective cell in a
> Prewar camera can generally be replaced with a
> cell that will outlast us all and will reach its
> use-by date about the recall date for our
> grandkids, unless they are stored 30 feet (10m) under the
> surface of a lake.
>
> What is much more likely to have gone bad is
> either the mechanical linkage -- always very
> complex with selenium meters -- or the electrical
> contacts, which are universally open to the
> atmosphere and subject to corrosion akin to that
> any owner of a car using a Bosch electrical
> system knows well. (Or Lucas or Marelli, for
> that matter.) Again, the mechanism is rather
> complex but rearranging the mechanical linkage
> and cleaning electrical contacts is hardly rocket
> science and will bring back a significant
> majority of selenium meters to full
> effectiveness. Again, the services of a
> qualified technical worker is well worth the
> relatively low price of admission, $US 150 or so.
>
> I believe that the selenium cells for the
> Rolleimagic were made by Metrawatt AG of
> Nürnberg, who are still in business. They were
> induced in the 1990's to make a run of NOS (new
> old-style) meter cells for the 3.5F/2.8F by Ian
> Parker's Rollei Club. I have never been
> interested in owning a Rolleimagic so I have not
> explored this but I believe that Metrawatt has a
> web presence and an enquiry might be met with the
> sort of response I got from Novoflex in 1993,
> when they made me the appropriate shutter release
> for one of their Contax reflex housings, an item
> which left production in 1953. It cost enough to
> hurt but they even matched the engravings on the production
> model.
>
> Marc
>
>
> msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
>
> ---
> Rollei List
>
> - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> 'subscribe'
> in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
>
> - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging
> into www.freelists.org
>
> - Online, searchable archives are available at
> //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
____________________________________________________________________________________
¡Buscá desde tu celular!
Yahoo! oneSEARCH ahora está en Claro
http://ar.mobile.yahoo.com/onesearch
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
