Kodak Type 021 Model I Retina IIIc w/ Rodenstock 50mm f/2.0 Heligon

[Sumarongi]

Just yesterday, and absolutely by chance (I was buying a tripod), I bought a Kodak Type 021 Model I Retina IIIc w/ Rodenstock 50mm f/2.0 Heligon 🙂

(For a song, I might add 😀)

Problem: 1/60 and faster seem O.K., but slow speeds are sticky.

How can I reactivate the slow speeds without any surgery, if possible?

 

[Phil_F_NM]

You may be able to get better slow speeds by warming up the camera but this is a temporary fix. The only solution to this common issue is a CLA on the shutter.

Phil Forrest

 

[Arbitrarium]

I've only used a Retina II but I think the III also has a removable front element that just unscrews easily. If you can get to the shutter blades, try dabbing a bit of naptha onto them and firing the shutter a few times. Repeat until the speeds free up.

And yeah, warming it up might help. My Retina hated being cold and refused to function in Lapland in March... Zorki 4 shrugged it off =P

 

[Sumarongi]

You may be able to get better slow speeds by warming up the camera but this is a temporary fix. The only solution to this common issue is a CLA on the shutter.

Phil Forrest

I've only used a Retina II but I think the III also has a removable front element that just unscrews easily. If you can get to the shutter blades, try dabbing a bit of naptha onto them and firing the shutter a few times. Repeat until the speeds free up.

And yeah, warming it up might help. My Retina hated being cold and refused to function in Lapland in March... Zorki 4 shrugged it off =P

Thank you both!

My memory is a seeve, apparently :bang:
-- In winter 2017/18 I put another leaf shutter camera simply for some hours near the radiator, and in fact, for I guess some hours, even in the -5°C outside, the things in question were *liquefied* again, so to say 🙂

edit: a sieve, of course 😱

 

[Beemermark]

I've only used a Retina II but I think the III also has a removable front element that just unscrews easily. If you can get to the shutter blades, try dabbing a bit of naptha onto them and firing the shutter a few times. Repeat until the speeds free up.=P

Good advice. Lighter fluid works well also to loosen the dried grease and ( I think) it might provide a very wee bit of lubrication. You have to be able to it without it getting on the lenses though.

 

[Sumarongi]

Good advice. Lighter fluid works well also to loosen the dried grease and ( I think) it might provide a very wee bit of lubrication. You have to be able to it without it getting on the lenses though.

Hmmm... (my brain-sieve😱) yes, I have Zippo fluid at home, although I don't have any Zippo lighter -- an ad writer would say: *Zippo is Synchro Compur's friend*, or so? 😛

 

[retinax]

I have found on my IIIC the shutter blades as well as the slow speed escapement needed cleaning. So a fair bit of disassembling was needed. It's doable for the patient and inclined layman, but fiddly. Check out Chris Sherlock's website and YouTube videos.

 

[Steve M.]

It's OK if lighter fluid gets on the lens glass. It evaporates right off. There may be a slight, slight film left, but I never saw it on any of my cameras. Usually, cleaning the shutter blades w/ a Q-tip and lighter fluid fixes the problem, but not always. Sometimes you need to flush the shutter out w/ the lighter fluid. You can squirt it into the seam where the speed adjustment dial rests next to the shutter assy itself. If all that doesn't get the slow speeds going, you didn't need anything below 1/60 anyway 🙂