Certo Super sport Dolly

pablokornfeld

pablokornfeld

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Hello...
A friend of mine gave me a Certo super sport dolly. It's a folding coupled rangefinder camera, I think pre-war. The lens is a Tessar 75mm f2.8. It's a very nice camera with some interesting features as an extintion meter and interchangeable lenses. Well, I wanted to clean and to adjust it to do a try. The mirror and beamsplitter were very dirty and at first I thought they would need to be replaced, but at the end they quite ok, quite as bright as my Bessa RF. I also find out how to calibrate the rangefinder but when I was checking the focus I found that it was impossible to get infinity. The bellows are far too long to the focal lenght. Then I found a lever just under the lens marked "F". When I turn it (and get the mark "P") the lens assembly goes back about 5mm. Then the focus is possible at the back of the camera, but the lens is too far back to couple with the rangefinder lever (it touches it when I focus at acout 4 meters).
Anyone has any idea about the fonctioning of this camera, and especially what is this lever intended for?
At the beginning I thoght it was for using another lens with another focal lenght. But the difference is too little.
Any idea of how getting the right focus?
Of course, I could add something to the rangefinder lever to couple it to the lens, but I don't think that it was originally intended so.
Thanks for your help!!
 
IIRC that is a switch between "Film" and "Platte" - there was an optional plate back for them. In plate setting, the rangefinder is not supposed to work - you'd have the ground glass for focusing.
 
sevo said:
IIRC that is a switch between "Film" and "Platte" - there was an optional plate back for them. In plate setting, the rangefinder is not supposed to work - you'd have the ground glass for focusing.
Click to expand...
Of course!!!
Thank you very much for that.
So I'll need to make focus on the "F" position. I don't see very well how, there are no shims...
 
pablokornfeld said:
Hello...
A friend of mine gave me a Certo super sport dolly. It's a folding coupled rangefinder camera, I think pre-war. The lens is a Tessar 75mm f2.8. It's a very nice camera with some interesting features as an extintion meter and interchangeable lenses. Well, I wanted to clean and to adjust it to do a try. The mirror and beamsplitter were very dirty and at first I thought they would need to be replaced, but at the end they quite ok, quite as bright as my Bessa RF. I also find out how to calibrate the rangefinder but when I was checking the focus I found that it was impossible to get infinity. The bellows are far too long to the focal lenght. Then I found a lever just under the lens marked "F". When I turn it (and get the mark "P") the lens assembly goes back about 5mm. Then the focus is possible at the back of the camera, but the lens is too far back to couple with the rangefinder lever (it touches it when I focus at acout 4 meters).
Anyone has any idea about the fonctioning of this camera, and especially what is this lever intended for?
At the beginning I thoght it was for using another lens with another focal lenght. But the difference is too little.
Any idea of how getting the right focus?
Of course, I could add something to the rangefinder lever to couple it to the lens, but I don't think that it was originally intended so.
Thanks for your help!!
Click to expand...

I think I know what the problem is. The Dolly Super Sport cameras were designed to be used with either a 6x4.5 mask or a 6x6 mask. It was not designed to be used without a mask. If you don't have a mask in there, the film is not the proper distance from the lens.
 
FallisPhoto said:
I think I know what the problem is. The Dolly Super Sport cameras were designed to be used with either a 6x4.5 mask or a 6x6 mask. It was not designed to be used without a mask. If you don't have a mask in there, the film is not the proper distance from the lens.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this! I didn't know that it was necessary to use a mask also for 6x6. Mine has none, but it's true that the frame it's a bit bigger that usal (6x5,8). But actually I think the problem wasn't there, because the difference it's very small, and I had a difference in focus of about 5mm. I finally found that it's possible to change the infinity focus moving the second element in the lens (which is screwed to the first). I don't know if it was intended so, but it worked fantastically, so may be I'll be shooting a roll in this beauty very soon.
 
pablokornfeld said:
Thank you for this! I didn't know that it was necessary to use a mask also for 6x6. Mine has none, but it's true that the frame it's a bit bigger that usal (6x5,8). But actually I think the problem wasn't there, because the difference it's very small, and I had a difference in focus of about 5mm. I finally found that it's possible to change the infinity focus moving the second element in the lens (which is screwed to the first). I don't know if it was intended so, but it worked fantastically, so may be I'll be shooting a roll in this beauty very soon.
Click to expand...

A note of warning: The film rollers were on the masks. Shooting without one may (and probably will) scratch the utter hell out of the film. You may want to do some serious metal polishing first.
 
FallisPhoto said:
A note of warning: The film rollers were on the masks. Shooting without one may (and probably will) scratch the utter hell out of the film. You may want to do some serious metal polishing first.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the warning! I now see that the 6x6 mask IS present, only that I had never seen a mask with the film rollers and so didn't realize that it was a mask. Anyway, a little bigger frame than all my other 6x6.
Thank you!
 
Darn. I just purchased a Dolly Super Sport under the impression that it included both a 6x6 and 6x4.5. It only included a 6x4.5 which isn't my preferred format.

Now I need to find a 6x6 mask. 🙁 ...I imagine finding parts of these cameras is a challenge...
 
See, I would be the opposite. I was trying to find a 6x4.5 folder recently (ended up with a Fuji, different story, different thread) and was frustrated that most Dollys did not include that mask. With some patience and an ad you might find somebody to trade their 6x6 for your 6x4.5.
 
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