Ezzie
E. D. Russell Roberts
Hi
I know there are a couple of you still using the Kowa MF SLR. Let´s say mine just made itself known to me. Three issues, before I´ve even taken a single shot. I loaded a trashed roll of 120 and to acquaint myself with it, and found:
1. The light seals are more or less shot. I saw evidence of black dust all over the place, on the finder, mirror, you name it, and yes the foam was disintegrating to the touch. I´ve done a quick job with some foam I had lying around, and will try some test shots tomorrow, hopefully it´ll do for now. Does anyone know if these can be bought, failing that where generic strips of sealing foam 3-4 mm square can be found?
2. The cocking and film winding mechanism feels rather strange, I don´t know if it supposed to be like this. At first a bit of resistance, then towards the end of the cocking and mirror raising cycle even more resistance, and then much less when film is wound in the second part of the cycle. At first I was rather hesitant at winding past the mirror raising to cock the shutter, as I´d heard the mechanism can break if overtaxed. (and thought I´d jammed it)
3. The lens has been given a CLA, rumour has it, and the glass is very clean. The helicoid is super smooth. However there seems to be oil on the aperture blades. They are sticky and this means that the blades don´t return when you use the DOF preview, or after a picture is taken. You have to force them back by stopping up to f2.8 and then back to your chosen stop for the next shot. It works of course, but a bit annoying. Anyone had a go at DIY cleaning of this particular lens?
Here´s the beast. I rather like it already. And boy does it say ka-wump! I nearly fell over in fright the first time I fired it.
I know there are a couple of you still using the Kowa MF SLR. Let´s say mine just made itself known to me. Three issues, before I´ve even taken a single shot. I loaded a trashed roll of 120 and to acquaint myself with it, and found:
1. The light seals are more or less shot. I saw evidence of black dust all over the place, on the finder, mirror, you name it, and yes the foam was disintegrating to the touch. I´ve done a quick job with some foam I had lying around, and will try some test shots tomorrow, hopefully it´ll do for now. Does anyone know if these can be bought, failing that where generic strips of sealing foam 3-4 mm square can be found?
2. The cocking and film winding mechanism feels rather strange, I don´t know if it supposed to be like this. At first a bit of resistance, then towards the end of the cocking and mirror raising cycle even more resistance, and then much less when film is wound in the second part of the cycle. At first I was rather hesitant at winding past the mirror raising to cock the shutter, as I´d heard the mechanism can break if overtaxed. (and thought I´d jammed it)
3. The lens has been given a CLA, rumour has it, and the glass is very clean. The helicoid is super smooth. However there seems to be oil on the aperture blades. They are sticky and this means that the blades don´t return when you use the DOF preview, or after a picture is taken. You have to force them back by stopping up to f2.8 and then back to your chosen stop for the next shot. It works of course, but a bit annoying. Anyone had a go at DIY cleaning of this particular lens?
Here´s the beast. I rather like it already. And boy does it say ka-wump! I nearly fell over in fright the first time I fired it.
