Diacord aperture

J

jpa66

Jan as in "Jan and Dean"
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I just got a Diacord, and while I was going through everything on it, I noticed that the aperture was a bit tough to change. Not sticking, per se, but just a bit of a challenge to switch. I'm going to go out and shoot with as soon as I can, and I'm going to hope that it will free up with usage. If this isn't the case, is there an easy fix? Anybody have any experience in this area?

The camera is in great condition, and I'll be curious to see how it is in comparison to my Rollei.

Jan
 
I love my Diacord, my film counter was stuck on zero. I played with all the settings for about a week and it started working. Setting the aperture is firmer than setting shutter speed on mine but its not a brother. My 1st roll of film came out great except for 2, which was operator error, double exposures. Have fun with it.
 
I have a parts Diacord with a bad viewing lens and a broken aperture lever. I'd wager someone tried to force it and caused it to become detached from the aperture itself.

I know its just one camera, not a trend, but still... 🙂
 
Jan, I wouldn't recommend this for any other TLR brands, but the Diacord (and Rolleis) are a few cameras that is worth servicing for extended use. Contact Mark Hansen in Oregon, he serviced my Diacord very well.
 
Karl Bryan works on Diacords and Ricohmatic 225s, and holds them in high esteem, which says volumes coming from a repair man widely held to be the preeminent Autocord specialist. Personally he'd be my first choice to service any of the select few TLRs that he's willing to work on.
 
shadowfox said:
Jan, I wouldn't recommend this for any other TLR brands, but the Diacord (and Rolleis) are a few cameras that is worth servicing for extended use. Contact Mark Hansen in Oregon, he serviced my Diacord very well.
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PMCC said:
Karl Bryan works on Diacords and Ricohmatic 225s, and holds them in high esteem, which says volumes coming from a repair man widely held to be the preeminent Autocord specialist. Personally he'd be my first choice to service any of the select few TLRs that he's willing to work on.
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Thanks gentlemen. I will check out both of them. I got the camera for a song ( at least what I feel is a song ) and I don't mind putting a few dollars into it. It does seem like it will be a lot of fun and, as I said before, I'm very curious to see how it compares to my Rolleiflex ( which I love ).
 
PMCC said:
Karl Bryan works on Diacords and Ricohmatic 225s, and holds them in high esteem, which says volumes coming from a repair man widely held to be the preeminent Autocord specialist. Personally he'd be my first choice to service any of the select few TLRs that he's willing to work on.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Mark Hansen also voiced his high opinion of the lens on the Ricoh TLR's not just the Diacord and Ricohmatic, but the tiny Ricohflex as well.

Just for kicks, this is what he replied when I asked him how did he measure the lens resolution of my Ricohflex that he was working on at that time:

"Nope, don't have to burn film, although that might me more fun. I use a National brand collimator, that has the standard U.S.A.F. target. I know from doing thousands of lens, that with an 80mm lens the innermost dots on the target are 328 line pairs per millimeter, resolving power. Also, I use a green filter for all my measurements, as the bare bulb is way to bright for me. So, with two colors of light, Blue and Yellow, your lens looks pretty good. I have not checked to see how it would do with Red, or Orange, but my guess is (and this comes from years of experience) that it will be good and sharp with full spectrum light. Other subjective measures I do are contrast and lens flare. As with all coated three element lenses, yours has awesome contrast, and little flare. On a strange note, most photographers equate number of elements with sharpness, and overall lens quality...However most of the time the lenses with three or four elements are vastly superior in contrast--flare, and with only one color of light--equal in sharpness. So, you and I can pick up lots of Novar Ikoflex', and Ricohflex' for good prices, and get awesome pictures with out breaking the bank."

 
The 4 element Rikenon on my Ricohflex 225 is a more than good enough lens, especially for the money. According to Karl, it tested nearly as well as the Rokkor on my Autocord. Hard to choose a personal favorite between two fine cameras, especially after both have been restored to excellent operating condition by Karl. Either can make fine photos, but all things considered, including handling and build, I seem to prefer using the Autocord.

As to 3 element lenses, I find they have their charms and character but have noticed that they are often mounted on lower-range cameras that lack potentially image-affecting features such as internal light baffles in the film chamber, and are often paired with simpler shutters that have limited or non-linear speed ranges. Depends on what look you find interesting, and what you're willing to put up with to get it.
 
I also have owned a Diacord cla'd by Mark Hansen, and he did a great job for a reasonable price. I found the lens quite sharp when compared with the Schneider Xenar on my Rolleicord, but it did not have quite as much contrast as the Schneider. However, there probably is a certain amount of variation between individual cameras in the same models.
 
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