Cleaning Heidosmat on 3.5F

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pete.mod

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Hi,

My Rolleiflex 3.5f has some fungus near the bottom of the viewing lens, right behind the front element. Will unscrewing it with a spanner wrench let me get to the fungus or do I need to take the front cover off?

I already cleaned the slight fungus of the viewing lens, and for that I did have to remove the front cover. I didn't touch the viewing lens at the time because I remember seeing it was "set" for proper focus and I didn't want to mess with it. But now I can't remember I could have just removed the front element without touching the rest of the assembly.

Can someone share their input or perhaps a link that shows how to take it apart? The fungus isn't really in the way at all, I just want to get at it before it compromises the glass or coatings.

Thanks.
 
check this step by step video by Youtube user mikeno62. it doesn't specifically address the viewing lens, but it'll get you all the way to the lens in terms of disassembly. Also, check out this guy's whole channel for Rolleiflex repair as well as some Leica gear and a handful of other repairs. He's got an impressive amount of skill and shows every step and most tools he's using...Hope this helps


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_u2YTOSw0Q&t=758s
 
pete.mod said:
Hi,


My Rolleiflex 3.5f has some fungus near the bottom of the viewing lens, right behind the front element. Will unscrewing it with a spanner wrench let me get to the fungus or do I need to take the front cover off?


I already cleaned the slight fungus of the viewing lens, and for that I did have to remove the front cover. I didn't touch the viewing lens at the time because I remember seeing it was "set" for proper focus and I didn't want to mess with it. But now I can't remember I could have just removed the front element without touching the rest of the assembly.


Can someone share their input or perhaps a link that shows how to take it apart? The fungus isn't really in the way at all, I just want to get at it before it compromises the glass or coatings.



Thanks.
Click to expand...
You have mentioned the Heidosmat lens in the thread title, but as quoted above you've said that you have already cleaned the viewing lens. I'm assuming, therefore, that you mean you've already cleaned the taking lens.

The viewing lens should, indeed, have been adjusted in its threads so that it agrees with the taking lens at any distance. Removing it for cleaning will void the calibration. In practice restoring this isn't problematic if a precise height measurement of the lens mount is taken before it is removed. In conjunction with a photo recording the rotational position of its markings the lens can be returned to its original setting with adequate precision.

How you take that height measurement will depend on the precision measurement equipment that you have access to. Various approaches such as a dial gauge, height gauge or vernier calipers may be feasible. The biggest challenge may be getting the jaws or probe of the device onto the mount to take a measurement without scratching the glass. I'd probably just use a surface plate and dial gauge, simply because the probe is small enough to sneak inside the front plate. But I also have a micrometer here that's probably large enough to take a reading with.

Your mileage may vary but personally, if I was removing the lens in the first place I'd actually go to the trouble of inspecting taking lens focus calibration and the match of the viewing lens to same. There is, after all, little point going to the effort of restoring a viewing lens to its original setting, if the basic focus calibration of the camera is off. Better to make things right, yes? As you have taken the front cover plate off your camera I am assuming you also have the skills required to calibrate the taking lens and the match of the viewing lens to it.

In terms of removing the viewing lens: it's secured in its threads by a locking ring. You shouldn't try to remove the lens without backing this off first. The video that Jordan linked gives a good view of it at the 11.00 minute mark exactly.

In order to do this you could remove the front plate for access. Perhaps you might have to. But there may be a short cut. In the past when working on Rolleicords I've managed to unlock their viewing lenses without taking off the front plate, by simply peeling back the corners of the leatherette and removing the four screws that secure the surround (it's parallel to the sides of the camera body, and closes off the gap between the lens board and its opening in the front of the body) and lifting the surround away.

With the surround removed and the focus set to the minimum possible distance it was possible to loosen the securing screw (the later Rolleicords use a screw, not a ring). The viewing lens could then be adjusted or removed without actually having to take the whole front plate off.

I haven't done this to an F series so this suggestion may not work. But I think it might. And, as you have to peel back the leatherette, to remove the front plate, anyway, you have nothing to lose by trying.

You may well have to remove the shutter release lock lever and sync port lock lever to get the surround off. They're both quite tight to the surround edges. Pulling the sync lock lever towards the lenses of my own 3.5F, the surround looks like it might, (just) clear it. You'll have to see how you go. In any case you're only removing parts that would otherwise have to come off...

There may be adjusting shims under the lugs for the surround. These set the clearance between plate and body so it is even and consistent around the four sides. If yours is sitting a little wonky—assuming the parallelism between lens board and film rails is good—this is your opportunity to adjust things and get the surround sitting evenly.

In the video mentioned the shutter needs to be accessed, obviously the front plate has to be removed for this, and he has elected to take off the plate and the surround together as you'll see by going back a few seconds from 11.00. But they are separate pieces and separately adjusted for their alignment.

On no account touch the parallelism adjusters and their locks or you'll get to learn how to set the lens board parallelism. At a minimum you'll need an autocollimator or dial gauge, mount for same, and surface plate, to get it corrected back to the +/–0.05mm stipulated in the service manual.

If you try my suggested approach to save a little time, and it works, I'd appreciate some follow up.
Cheers
Brett
 
Hi Brett,

Thank you for that incredibly detailed reply. I think I was smart not to touch the viewing lens the first time around (I cleaned the taking lens like you said).

I did do some testing on this camera after I cleaned the lens to see if it was focusing properly, and the focus is spot on. I printed test charts and taped them to my wall, and took photos about 6 feet away with the aperture wide open. The focus plane was the exact same as the sheet of paper, so probably as good as it gets (better than I could bring it back to if I were to clean the lens).

I think for now I will leave it alone. The fungus is not bad enough for me to place my faith in my limited camera repair skills. I'm already more than happy that I was able to get to the small spot of fungus in the taking lens and remove it completely.

However, I will bookmark this thread and if I do end up cleaning it then I will post photos and update this thread.

Thanks,
Peter
 
The Rolleiflexes are like watches inside. I've managed to repair a dozen different cameras and lenses but I'd never touch a Rolleiflex.
 
Brett, the front cover of an F includes parts and connections tied to the coupled metering system. Taking it off without understanding how to reinstall it properly is not recommended. Parts including the meter ISO dial need to be in specific positions. And simply getting it off means removing retaining rings around the shutter release and flash sync port.

Pete, if you remove the viewing lens, there is a retaining ring on the back of the lens block. Rear element comes out, then a spacer tube, middle element, second spacer tube, and front element. Remove slowly and make notes. One or two of the elements are almost symmetrical so be sure to preserve which side goes where. And the spacer tubes usually have bevels on one end; again note.
 
Dan Daniel said:
Brett, the front cover of an F includes parts and connections tied to the coupled metering system. Taking it off without understanding how to reinstall it properly is not recommended. Parts including the meter ISO dial need to be in specific positions. And simply getting it off means removing retaining rings around the shutter release and flash sync port.

Pete, if you remove the viewing lens, there is a retaining ring on the back of the lens block. Rear element comes out, then a spacer tube, middle element, second spacer tube, and front element. Remove slowly and make notes. One or two of the elements are almost symmetrical so be sure to preserve which side goes where. And the spacer tubes usually have bevels on one end; again note.
Click to expand...
Point taken, Dan. But if you read the gentleman's first post again—he has already removed and re-installed the front housing once. It seems logical to me that, if he has managed this successfully once, he can probably manage it again, if needed.
Cheers
Brett
 
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