Yes, and of course the prewar mirrors are shellac coated silver, not
aluminum. Quite often the shellac turns yellow and slightly hazy on
these old mirrors, so even if there isn't any obvious black spots or
missing silver, the mirrors have terrible transmittance.
I have not found a way to clean these silver mirrors. The shellac is
the culprit but any sort of solvent will remove the coating and the silver.
Richard is correct about the bloom on the viewing lens. That viewing
lens was among the haziest lenses I have ever successfully cleaned. It
literally took quite a scrubbing with kim wipe tissues using 1:1
household ammonia : household hydrogen peroxide. However, the "coating"
remains even after this treatment. I am certain it would not have been
possible to clean if it were a coated lens with Zeiss T coatings of that
era.
The only real defect on the camera that detracts from it is the loss of
plating on the front nameplate which shows as brass-coloured spots. Its
not a collector's piece but really razor sharp with a nice uncoated look.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/mskovacs/pv/Rolleiflex/PrewarAutomat2.jpg
http://www3.sympatico.ca/mskovacs/pv/Rolleiflex/0306-2_Bridgedetail.jpg http://www3.sympatico.ca/mskovacs/pv/Rolleiflex/0306-4_Ally.jpg http://www3.sympatico.ca/mskovacs/pv/Rolleiflex/0306-6_Emily.jpg http://www3.sympatico.ca/mskovacs/pv/Rolleiflex/0306-5_SPSL66.jpg
From: Mike Kovacs <mskovacs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
What I do like is the date stamp on the prewar mirrors - its a very accurate way to date your camera down to build month and year according to Parker.
I like that too. On some mirrors the date is engraved, and some are written with a pencil (if the back surface is matte).
The mirror in my Sports Rolleiflex 4x4 had the date xx/xx -38 written with pencil, but it was removed when I cleaned the mirror before sending it for resilvering. I had the date written it down somewhere... somewhere... :-(
The pre-war 4x4 Rolleiflexes have thinner mirrors than their 6x6 siblings.
/Patric
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