Rollei 35T - not a RF but help would be apreciated..

[SergioGuerra]

Greetings dear photography lovers!
I know that the rollei 35t is not a rangefinder, but since I believe a lot of people on this forum have one, they could possibly give me a hand on this one...

I bought one ebay Rollei 35t (described as untested, but cheap) that has unfortunately several problems...

1st one:
Lens barrel is always out. It is sticked out on taking position and wont rotate to go inside 🙁 (After I opened the top part of the camera i saw it is loose the small metal piece that acts when you press the release lens barrel button. I dont know if this is supposed to be like that)

2nd:
There was a bolt inside the camera, between the lens barrel and the shutter mechanism. I managed to take it out but dont know where it came from (possibly from the lens barrel brake mechanism)

3rd: The plastic dented part of the film advance mechanism (the big dented wheel is made of metal, the small one of plastic) has some damaged dents :| Although film still advances it wont advance in a single stroke most times...


the good news:

- Lens were very dirty from outside, but after some cleaning action, they seem to be in very good condition 🙂
- Shutter speeds, lens iris and meter seem to work perfectly!

Guess they forgot to mess with those things ehehehe

I believe some persons in this forum have already repaired rollei 35 s, and might be able to give me some help and directions to have this camera working..
I am not afraid of working on cameras, although I am not sure if I can manage a full disassembly of a camera (would be my first time ehe).

If anyone has a repair manual it could be very very usefull, if anyone has a spare plastic piece of the film advance mechanism to sell me would be perfect too and all other help will be very important to me..

I just re-assembled the camera and will try to shoot an old film just to see if shutter is ok, but having this camera with a bad advancing mechanism and a lens barrel always out wont give me much pleasure 🙁 (the camera looses the small size factor and cant trust very much the film advance).

I have made some photos and uploaded them temporary to here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037176@N00/sets/1767727/


Thanks everyone and greetings from Portugal!

Sergio Guerra

 

[SergioGuerra]

Oh please pardon my stupidiness...

Just found out that there is nothing wrong with the lens barrel, I just didnt know it would only retract after film is advanced and shutter cocked.

Now I would only need help on the film advance plastic wheel.... (And I wonder where did that bolt come from....)

🙂

 

[FrankS]

Hello Sergio and welcome. I have a Rollei 35 TE and could only have helped with the lens retraction question. I've never been inside it.

 

[SergioGuerra]

Ok thanks dear Frank,

In fact the manual is not very explicit on that subject, and since I received the camera with lens blocked out, and I saw the loose bolt inside, I never thought it would be normal...

I will shoot the first roll today, I am using the Silver Oxide 1.55v battery and have been doing some meterings and comparing to a camera i have, and It seems to be alright if I put it 1 stop and a half down. I think adjusting the meter wouldnt be too hard (there are two pots inside the camera) but I am not sure if I want to mess with that...

Now I am looking for someone with a defective/parts Rollei 35 to get that plastic piece for mine...

(and I still wonder where was the loosen bolt from)

Cheers!

Sergio

 

[tobias]

screws and manuals

screws and manuals

Hello,
I have no idea if you have got your Rollei 35 working properly at this stage,
however I wanted to offer my experience with screws in the lens barrel: There is a plastic component at the back, which with a collapsed lens sits near the film plane, which should hold 5 screws. In front of me I have my 35T Singapore, and it is missing one of these screws, with no side effects, and years ago I had an LED which was missing one, and again had no fault.

Secondly, here is a service manual, which, if nothing else, is pretty to look at.

http://rapidshare.com/files/26058675/Rollei_35_Service_Manual.pdf.html

Bests,
t

 

[SergioGuerra]

Hi Tobias... many thanks for the manual and help 🙂
In fact I got the Rollei working long ago, although it still has a "minor" flaw. A missing tooth on the platic winding gear. It does no harm if you always double stroke it's advance lever.
I only use sporadicaly, but It is a very nice compact camera..

Best regards,

Sergio

ps: once again thanks for the manual...