My poor Kalloflex...
My poor Kalloflex...
I just couldn't stand another Sunday looking at the work I'd brought home, so I started checking my neglected rangefinders and TLRs. Cleaned up the Tessar and the mirror on the pre-war Rolleiflex, fussed with the Rolleicord, and turned to my favorite TLR, the Kalloflex. The shutter had gotten sluggish, so I gave it a thorough bath in lighter fluid, which got it right up to speed. But when I checked the focusing screen, I noticed that distant buildings were sharpest a little shy of infinity. Stranger yet, this tendency was most pronounced in the upper half of the screen, while the lowest part was perfectly focused. When I took the hood and screen off, I realized for the first time that the Kalloflex focusing screen is lower in the front (the top of the image) than in the back. Mine was shimmed in front with a couple of washers, but it seemed to need further shimming to make the upper part of the image focus properly, thus making the focusing screen more level. Normally I'd prefer to change the focus on the viewing lens, but I couldn't get it to budge. So I put more and more washers under the front of the screen and finally got it about right with three #6 washers on the front-left and four on the front-right!
With all this padding under the front of the screen I had to leave off the front screws holding the hood in place, but it seemed quite secure with just the back ones. I was contemplating my work, glad to have gotten reasonably accurate focusing at close and far distances, when I heard a distinct "snap" from inside the camera. The focusing was now much farther off than before, and my suspicions were confirmed when I reopened it yet again. As I feared, the mirror had broken in half about two-thirds of the way toward the top. I suspect I had put pressure on it when I reattached the hood. Anyway, I'm going to have to look through the parts boxes for a scrap of front-silvered mirror, 1.53mm thick or a little less.
I began to wonder about the curious tilted-screen design, though, and did a little Googling to see what had been posted in the last few years on Kalloflexes. I found nothing about the screen and no repair instructions, but I was delighted to find that David had started this thread and posted his very appealing pictures. And now that Ezzie has done such a beautiful restoration of his K'flex I can regain my title as owner of the ugliest known Kalloflex. I'm inspired by David's and Ezzie's and Krosya's great shots to get mine back in working order.
Having disassembled two Rolleis and the Kallo in one morning I'm more impressed than ever with the tank-like build of the Kalloflex. (Still, if anything has a claim to be the Hummer of TLRs I think it has to be the Mamiya C-series.) After looking at everyone's images, I'm wondering if a little misalignment might have been why my images looked softer than the ones from a YashicaMat when I ran parallel rolls a few years ago. With a little luck I'll find where I left my front-silvered mirror stock and I'll give it another try!
