Building a Voigtländer Prominent system

VisualDarkness said:
I got the camera now with the Ultron lens. The camera is in a really nice shape externally but somebody didn't know how to clean their lenses so the front element is pretty scratched, hard to say if it will affect image quality.

The self-timer didn't work but a after a real work out (my thumb is sore) it now works rather well.

Should the second shutter be closed when not cocked? As it is now it sometimes closes completely when carefully shaking the Compur unit and always directly when you start cocking the shutter. I tried to carefully clean it from the outside but no difference.
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Yes, the second shutter should be closed until you start to press the shutter release.
 
KoNickon said:
Yes, the second shutter should be closed until you start to press the shutter release.
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To clarify, the second shutter closes completely when I cock the shutter, but won't return back into a completely closed state after pushing shutter release unless I either shake the shutter unit or cock the shutter just slightly.
 
Now I'm sad, I was slowly working the shutter when it suddenly stuck. Now the shutter lever won't move from cocked and there is no movement or tension in the piece that moves the shutter lever. All that excitement and money gone? :(
 
Don't have an obvious fix for you, but Zacks Camera Repair in Providence RI should be able to fix this -- they just did significant work for me on a Prominent.
 
@ VisualDarkness...

The correct sequence of events with the second shutter is this :-

1. Shutter uncocked, second shutter is closed.
2. Shutter cocked, second shutter remains closed.
3. The second shutter starts to open when initial pressure is applied to the shutter release button (ie when the slack in the button travel is taken up), and is fully open when the button reaches the point where the primary shutter fires.
4. Primary shutter closes, immediately followed by second shutter closing.

From the symptoms you've given - self timer not initially working, hang ups with the second shutter - it would appear that perhaps the camera has been unused for a long time and the lubricants have congealed.

It needs servicing !

If you can't locate a suitable repair shop in Sweden or neighboring countries, I highly recommend ''Newton Ellis & Co.'' in Liverpool, England - find them on Google.

They serviced one of my Prominents 4 years ago and it's still ticking along nicely...
 
Think about sending it to Chris Sherlock @ www.retinarescue.com

He is well known for his Kodak Retina repairs, but he does any leaf shutter cam! Maybe he can do something for your lens too.

Btw - I send one of my Bessamatic together with a 2nd retina to him.

If you don´t wanna buy the book, but need some more information about your Prominent, send me a PM and I may scan this part.
 
KoNickon said:
Oh, sorry -- didn't know that is where you are. There must be competent repairers in Europe. I hope some of the others will offer suggestions. But you could do far worse than contacting Zacks: http://www.zackscamerarepair.biz/index.html
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I have contact with one on Stockholm now that is willing to take look at it and may be the best in Sweden. I'll mail Zacks too!
 
I've contacted all of above and we'll see about the answers.

The ring that hold the shutter unit in place from inside the camera body was slightly unscrewed and that would explain the wobbling shutter unit and maybe the total brakedown. I should have checked it before starting to use the camera but hindsight is....
 
BW400CN said:
Do you speak German?
If yes get the "Voigtländer Report 1" from Claus Prochnow - ISBN 3-00-011867-5.
There you find ANY Information about the Prominent System.
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Even if you cannot read German very well, this site by Heinz Schöbel is a veritable gold mine of information with many images. Not only for the Prominent series, but all old Voigtländer cameras.
http://www.schoebels-voigtlaender-archiv.de/

Prominent specific: http://www.schoebels-voigtlaender-archiv.de/Bild1204.html
 
dct said:
Even if you cannot read German very well, this site by Heinz Schöbel is a veritable gold mine of information with many images. Not only for the Prominent series, but all old Voigtländer cameras.
http://www.schoebels-voigtlaender-archiv.de/

Prominent specific: http://www.schoebels-voigtlaender-archiv.de/Bild1204.html
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I've already read it but thank you. The information about the Prominent is really scarce and therefor that link was one the first one google showed me.
 
Zacks answered and gave me a good price so maybe I'll send it there. At first I was astonished that h answered in the evening, until I remembered the time difference...
 
He's a good guy; my Prominent was in worse shape than yours appears to be (internal impact damage). Works well now. I think it took him 2-3 weeks for the work.
 
KoNickon said:
He's a good guy; my Prominent was in worse shape than yours appears to be (internal impact damage). Works well now. I think it took him 2-3 weeks for the work.
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I don't think my copy have any impact damage at all, just some shroddy history told by the cleaning scratches on the lens and some slightly worn screwheads on the camera. I guess somebody really wanted to clean it years ago but it ended up on a shelf for a long time.
 
I just recieved the rest of the stuff I got through Ebay including a nice looking Skoparon, so I have one nice looking lens now! I still need a new camera or to get this one fixed.

10578470224_60317940ce_b.jpg
 
I love that compartment case! As for the 1/2 case, I have never seen one in that color, for this or any camera. That's remarkable.
 
KoNickon said:
I love that compartment case! As for the 1/2 case, I have never seen one in that color, for this or any camera. That's remarkable.
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That case is great and even smells in good condition too! The ½ came stuffed in the camera part of the case so I thought it was standard?

Here's all the cases I got. The broken one is worn but can be easily be used again with some new stitching. The lighter one is in great condition! The overall build and feel of the cases are the same but they have slightly different details like placement and shapes of the holes.
(My silver Pentax K-5 photobombed)

10579455274_44b92851b9_b.jpg


Here is how the lighter one was attached.
10579436066_ba1073b999_b.jpg
 
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