Show off your TLR!

KoNickon said:
Looks like this one (and mine also) has the Metax shutter -- goes to 1/300. I assume the Prestor is East German -- from the name, a copy of the Prontor maybe?
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Ah, no. The Prestor is indeed East German, from Carl Zeiss Jena, but has nothing in common with the Prontor. It has double ended blades that sort of rotate when you cock it, meaning that it requires a so-called capping shutter behind that stays shut when cocking but opens when the shutter is released.

If that sounds horribly complex, it's because it is! When they work well they work very well, but are twice as much work to dismantle and reassemble. Very much an engineering solution in search of a problem.
 
Absolute Beginner said:
Hi all, I'm starting a new project soon involving a Rolleiflex, Soho and street photography (my username might provide a hint), so I got this from my cousin for some practice. It belonged to his dad, who it seems never used it given its pristine appearance! I've shot a couple of rolls with it this week, and should get the results back in a week or so's time. It seems to operate properly, although I am conscious of the fact that it's circa 50 years old and has never been serviced, so it might have lubrication issues.

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Most TLRs are easily serviced, if all that is needed is basically a 'CLA' and nothing more complex, such as reassembling lenses dismantled by well-meaning home tinkerers who had no idea what they were doing or getting into. I've had a couple of those 'home fixer upper' cameras, and the costs in the end were as high as (in one instance) and higher (in another) than what I paid for the two Rolleis. Never, ever again...

It seems that adjustments on mechanical shutters are (according to my friend, a retired camera repair man) not too difficult, and an often be done in an hour or less work.

Even nowadays in Australia, one can get a competent camera tech to do a general tune-up on any TLR for less than AUD $200, if no new parts are required, and even then often as not the replacement bits would be cannibalised from old cameras.

So if you intend to invest in 120 roll film and get seriously into film photography again, fixing up this old babe may be worthwhile.

If you do, please let us know what the results are. It's all valuable information...
 
trix4ever said:
View attachment 4846711Rolleiflex 3.5E3, 6 element Planar, in my unbiased opinion the best Rollei ever.
I cut down an RB67 screen, so much better than the stock screen.
One of my 'never sell' cameras.
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My venerable Rollei 3.5 E2 is no second rater. I bought it new in 1966, after looking at it for a few years on a shelf in our local pharmacy. The town's dentist had ordered it when it first came out, but passed away before it was delivered. I was in my late teens and in a low-paying news reporter job, but the widow kindly gifted me the CDN $100 deposit already paid on it, which made buying it (and paying it off in six installments) much easier.

I still have the camera, along with a box of F&H Bayonet III (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this!) accessories I bought used for it over many years. Sadly, in this digs-everything era and given the high cost of 120 film in Australia, I don't use it enough, but like trix4ever I intend to keep it for what remains of my lifetime, and I plan to use it again at least one more time. After all a Rollei is for life.
 
DownUnder said:
My venerable Rollei 3.5 E2 is no second rater. I bought it new in 1966, after looking at it for a few years on a shelf in our local pharmacy. The town's dentist had ordered it when it first came out, but passed away before it was delivered. I was in my late teens and in a low-paying news reporter job, but the widow kindly gifted me the CDN $100 deposit already paid on it, which made buying it (and paying it off in six installments) much easier.

I still have the camera, along with a box of F&H Bayonet III (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this!) accessories I bought used for it over many years. Sadly, in this digs-everything era and given the high cost of 120 film in Australia, I don't use it enough, but like trix4ever I intend to keep it for what remains of my lifetime, and I plan to use it again at least one more time. After all a Rollei is for life.
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The accessories would be the Bayonet II, not III, but I'm sure they fit and you're just not recalling the designation correctly. Yes, that's a lifer! Sorry to hear that 120 is so expensive there, but the results with that camera will be well worth it. Just take it off the shelf every so often and run the shutter through the speeds to keep it working right.
 
Here are some of my TLRs. I do have to say I may have been married to a brand - beats me!; and yes, I do use them, dearly with love and care.
 

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Here's a pic I took yesterday of my TLR:

my yashica 635 1.jpg

It has a Rick Oleson Brightscreen 6610 with Microprism and split image rangefinder. They even worked out a Parallax correction mark set for 4 feet for me, although it probably won't be much use as it is so close to the top edge of the focusing screen as to be almost unusable. Perhaps if I'd asked for a 5 feet mark it would've been usable? I don't blame them though. The shop I'd bought the camera from a few weeks earlier only charged me £35 plus postage to fit it. They only work on cameras they've sold, so if I'm to get a Yashica D with Yashinon lens I'll have to wait for them to get one in. If I do, it'll be having either a Brightscreen 6603 MPD or a Brightscreen LF02 MPD fitted. The only thing wrong with the camera is that it's lost the protective threaded collar for the cable release thread around the shutter button.
 
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