Ansco Super Memar focus lever

[patchyfogsteph]

Good morning everyone! I am new here and am hoping someone can offer a little information. My grandma just gave me my grandpa's old Ansco Super Memar, which is in beautiful condition but the focus lever is stuck. I know that you can take it apart and unstick it yourself, but I'm definitely a novice when it comes to camera repair. Do any of you know of a good repair shop that can fix it for me? Thanks for your help. This seems to be a great forum! Beautiful gallery photos.

Steph

 

[kiev4a]

The Memar is a little trickier to dig into because of its permanent lens and shutter. My first guess would be that the lubricants have dried up in the focusing mechanism. As to repair shops, someone else probably has better info than I do. My first camera was a Super Memar. I still have it and it still works.

 

[bmattock]

Try this web page as a starter...

http://www.davidrichert.com/AGFA rebuild/agfa.htm

I have a couple of old Agfa folders that had this problem. My success rate at unsticking the frozen lubricant is not high. I have had a Super Memar, but mine did not have the frozen lubricant problem, so I can't give you really good advice there, I'm afraid.

But Agfa apparently used a brand of grease that turned to sludge in time - a real shame, because they are such nice cameras!

If you really want to preserve the camera and don't feel comfortable fixing it yourself, you can send it off to one of several places for a CLA (clean, lube, and adjust) and you will most likely be pleased with the results. Not cheap, though.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[patchyfogsteph]

Thanks Kiev4 and Bill. I appreciate your advice. I was thinking of sending the camera (and a Yashica Electro G with a stuck shutter) off to Mark Hama's for repair. I'll hope for the best!

Thanks again for your responses.

Steph

 

[goodharbor]

My solution for the frozen focus on a Memar

My solution for the frozen focus on a Memar

I just got an Ansco Memar that's in great shape except for a frozen focus ring. Here's what I did. I heated the lens with a hair dryer to loosen the gunky grease. While still warm, I used a pair of pliers to (successfully) move the focus ring to the 15' setting. It's now frozen at 15' (unless I get the hair dryer out again).

Why 15' ? Because at f/16, f/11, and f/8, the depth of field should keep me in focus from infinity to 6', 8', and 9' respectively. Not too bad since I'll be using the camera outdoors and rely on Sunny 16 exposure (200 ASA film, 1/200 second shutter). I only paid $4.99 for the camera ... I'll live with this restriction.

Check out my write-up on this on http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodharbor/sets/72057594086974996/ .

- Bob