hi
Just following up on this. There was some confusion in working through my local and they repaired it anyway. I decided not to kick up a fuss and paid for the repair. The people who repaired it were Aperture , based in London. They have a good reputation and all looks good now. That said, I still may get rid of it and sell it on as it is still under warranty for another few months. At this stage the Split level viewfinder annoys me (even though they have cleaned it up well) and the left hand focusing know (with distance in ft) annoy me also. I cannot justify spending any more money on it and would like to recoup some. The Yashicalflexex with their fresnel screen seem much easier to work with.
Persevere - you will eventually get used to handling your T. Every camera is different. It's all a matter of using them and becoming familiar with them.
I bought two Ts in the 1990s when they were much less expensive than they've now become - like you are experiencing now, I found it took me a while to ge used to the different places for the focusing and winding, also the unique shutter button which sits at a 45 degree angle. All the more so as I had been using a 3.5E2 (which I bought new in 1966), so my Ts were an entirely different user experience.
A few years ago I lucked into a Rolleicord Vb kit at a low price, and the fun and games of learning a new system started again... now the Vb is my usual go-to TLR for bush trekking and day trips, even with the unusual (and I have to admit, initially annoying) left-right lever to trip the shutter.
The T (also the Vb) can take a 16 exposure kit and with a bit of 'creative' cranking, you can easily get an additional image from a 120 roll, so it's really a 17 exposure kit, ha! I have these kits on my Ts and the Vb and they do make an amazing difference to my composing. I suggest you get one - not expensive on Ebay. Then go wild and buy a 24 exposures on 120 kit... Either will expand your creativity and greatly improve your enjoyment of using the T.
The Tessar lens on the T has a unique look - it can be difficult to describe, but to me it's something in the mid-tones, also a 'character' pattern in the images, especially with B&W negatives. One of my two Ts shows this more than the other - odd, as the serial numbers are only a couple of 10,000s apart from each other, so they surely date closely to each other in manufacture. I've also found that the Zeiss lenses on the Rolleis tend to 'wrap' the light around the subjects - a trait I've noticed with other Zeiss lenses.
