Rolleiflex 2.8C needs a CLA: who do you recommend?

raid

raid

Dad Photographer
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Hi,
My 2.8C needs a CLA for the shutter and aperture rings. Whom would you recommend for such a job and what would be the expected costs?

Thank you.
 
Harry Fleenor (Oceanside Camera Repair) is the Rollei guru on the West Coast. I've had good luck with him over the years, for both my Rolleiflex MX and Rollei 35. The most recent service for the 'flex was transport repair, and that ran $200 including return shipping. He tends to run an 8 to 10 week backlog.

http://www.rolleirepairs.com/
 
Thanks. I will try him out then. Basically, the two wheels are very difficult to turn. Else, the camera looks OK to me.
 
Not a stupid question. Of course, I have ! :)
This is my 5th or 6th Rollei. I tried using alcohol on the wheels.
 
Ok, reason I asked was I received a 2.8c planar today and thought the wheels were hard to turn.

Then I saw the locks. :). (My first Rolleiflex)

Shawn
 
Fleenor has had my 2.8D since mid March, not heard from him yet, I'll give it 4 months on the nose and then come a knocking. He is doing a complete overhaul for me....for double the price I have ever paid for something like this, an eye watering $560!

Everyone raves about him...this had better be damned good.
 
Do you really need the extensive teardown/rebuild service that Mr Fleenor offers or does your camera just require a shutter cleaning/lube and having the viewfinder cleaned?

Most competent shops can do the simpler level work quite well, probably for about USD100 and with a more rapid turnaround than Mr Fleenor requires.
 
The oil in the gears around the lenses has probably gummed up. Rollei seems to have been very sparing in original manufacturing, but it seems lots of repairmen over the years simply dripped in more oil to loosen them up without cleaning it out first. I see this repeatedly on Rolleiflexes and Minolta Autocords.



Here's the parts on an Autocord- very similar to your Rolleiflex with the addition of the side dials, not the levers on the Autocord. Two layers of gears surrounding the bayonet mounts. You can imagine what a layer or two of old oil could do in there-


13299733675_ffa56b9876_b.jpg



It's a time-consuming job to do right- you need to remove all the pieces, clean, and then realign for assembly. By itself, with nothing else being done to the camera, probably $75-125.
 
Thanks for the explanation, Dan. Then my camera needs a "real" CLA and not a patch-up-add-oil-job
 
Well, it's a surface job. Remove the front leather, remove the lens shroud. That's it. Then you undo the two retaining rings and the parts come out.

Now while the front is off can be a good time to do a little maintenance on the shutter since it is now exposed, if needed.

But full CLA? Only if other things are going on with the camera. This dial problem in and of itself is simple with minimal intrusion to the camera. But yeah, the 'patch up add oil' thing is what led to this problem, so don't go there!
 
Raid, I'll start by saying that I'm a happy Harry Fleenor customer. If you haven't already, you might want to read his blurb on CLA / overhaul: http://www.rolleirepairs.com/cla.htm.
The bottom line is that, in general, if you're lucky, you get what you pay for. With Harry, you can be sure of what you're getting. My main MF camera is a '58 Rolleiflex T, that I bought off ebay for $300 due to supposed lens separation issues. When it arrived, I couldn't find any indication of problems with the lens. I sent it to Harry, who overhauled it and installed a Maxwell screen. When it returned, I had (with purchase price/overhaul/& shipping) a $1k Rolleiflex that has worked flawlessly for me and been all over the world & still is a great functional camera.
My take on your situation is that if one thing on your old Rollei is having issues....it is most likely ready for a full service.
In a parallel situation, I confess that over decades of Leica M use I never sent an M in for service. Last month I sent a '68 black paint M4 to DAG. It came blackk working flawlessly & amortized over the # of years I've used Leicas....the cost is essentially nothing.
If you ever work with good tradesmen, they value their tools and look after them...& give them the required service. In the camera world (speaking of the past line of mechanical cameras....Leica/Nikon/Canon Pentax et al), I'd hazard a guess that most of them never have any service done during their lifetime of use. Actually they are mechanical wonders.
Harry, like the other highly respected top repairmen, wont be around for ever. Give it the love Raid.......after all, in my opinion, the cost/benefit value is high.
 
Speaking of a 2.8c that could use some attention - has anyone here tried Bill Moretz at ProCamera in Virginia? I ask because I could actually drive there - saving the shipping costs and getting a nice photo trip in the process....

This would be for my 2.8c - which still works ok, but is stiffer than it should be and should probably get some maintenance (rather than use to failure.)
 
Deardorff38 said:
Raid, I'll start by saying that I'm a happy Harry Fleenor customer. If you haven't already, you might want to read his blurb on CLA / overhaul: http://www.rolleirepairs.com/cla.htm.
The bottom line is that, in general, if you're lucky, you get what you pay for. With Harry, you can be sure of what you're getting. My main MF camera is a '58 Rolleiflex T, that I bought off ebay for $300 due to supposed lens separation issues. When it arrived, I couldn't find any indication of problems with the lens. I sent it to Harry, who overhauled it and installed a Maxwell screen. When it returned, I had (with purchase price/overhaul/& shipping) a $1k Rolleiflex that has worked flawlessly for me and been all over the world & still is a great functional camera.
My take on your situation is that if one thing on your old Rollei is having issues....it is most likely ready for a full service.
In a parallel situation, I confess that over decades of Leica M use I never sent an M in for service. Last month I sent a '68 black paint M4 to DAG. It came blackk working flawlessly & amortized over the # of years I've used Leicas....the cost is essentially nothing.
If you ever work with good tradesmen, they value their tools and look after them...& give them the required service. In the camera world (speaking of the past line of mechanical cameras....Leica/Nikon/Canon Pentax et al), I'd hazard a guess that most of them never have any service done during their lifetime of use. Actually they are mechanical wonders.
Harry, like the other highly respected top repairmen, wont be around for ever. Give it the love Raid.......after all, in my opinion, the cost/benefit value is high.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your personal thoughts and recommendations.
I need to make up my mind about it soon.
 
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