rollei lens-board realignement

rolleistef

Well-known
Local time
9:32 PM
Joined
Jan 22, 2006
Messages
945
Haia,
I'm afraid the lens board on my Rollei T might be out, is it easy to fix by oneself or better let it to a Pro repairshop?
 
Because of the way in which the camera is constructed, the only way for it to be out is if the camera has been dropped.

Essentially, the lens board is a stiff (very sturdy) metal tray that holds both lenses.
 
What makes you think that it's out of alignment? You'd likely have a lot of visible damage to the camera if it had been knocked around enough to get it out of alignment. I'd also expect the focusing would be very stiff, if not completely jammed.
 
Has someone worked on the camera and left out the shims?? This could cause a mis-alignment..
 
T. Tomasoy's original book on collecting and repairing classic cameras (I think that's the title) had a section on this subject. I dimly recall mention of some adjusting screws accessable under the leather of the front panel. If you don't get a better answer here, sign into the Rollei users forum on Best stuff.
 
Last edited:
You have to:
1- peel off the skin on the two sides of the camera.
2- open the four screws retaining the front plate
3- opening the flash syncro. MAJOR PITA!!
4- remove the front plate. now you have access to four bolts retaining the lens board at the right plate on four screwing rods. This is what you have to adjust.
From here, I only suppose things:
Now, assuming you get there, you have to carefully adjust the four bolts so that : 1- the focus on the two lenses (vewing and taking) are the same, 2- the focus on the image is the same in four corners. I would try to start with a caliper, then go to a collimation/ground glass adjustment. My guess is that it can be quite tedious since the viewing screen is quite dim on my T.
This is where I gave up. I tried a DIY CLA and by mistake turned the bolts...
So finally, I sent it....

BTW, I find these cameras to be incredibly more difficult to work on (at the amateur level) than Leicas. some screws are very difiicult to reach, you have to peel the cover to open the camera etc...

Good luck!!
 
I forgot:

you can test your T alignement by doing the ruler test at the four corners of the frames...
 
Hello,
thanks a lot for your kind help!
it must have been a problem with the terminology... I think I meant "front plate" and not "lens board"... (but then my conception of a Rolleiflex completely changes!) which might sounds more likely to be out?
 
Stephane, what do ou exactly see that you do not like?

If your 'flex does not focus where it should, the problem is not so serious. The focus screen or the viewing lens might be out of alignment.
If the flex focuses in the iddle but the focus is off towards the edges, then indeed the lens board might be knocked out on one side i.e. it is not parallel with the film plane anymore. This is a very serious problem, something the previous replies are referring to. Even a pro repairman has to mess around with this to repair it, and since it is a T model, might be cheaper-easier to get another one...

The adjusment of focus is not a big job, if there is no damage on the front of the camera and lens board is still parallel with film plane. But you need to get access to the viewing lens, as described above, by removing those screws, etc. In any case if you want to get a great working flex, you better leave it to a professional.
 
Back
Top Bottom