Show off your TLR!

Glad people got a laugh from my duct taped Rolleiflex. I actually first put a Hasselblad NC-2 prism on a Yashica-Mat a while back:

4647805494_7fc9d76a32.jpg


And PMCC, I refered to it as my Franken-Mat. Now that I have 'moved up,' your name is perfect!

The Hasselblad NC-2 can often be found for cheap, especially when it looks as bad as the one I have. The optics in mine are still excellent. The prism has a plate for mounting that can be removed and then it slides right into the Yashica viewfinder piece (after the movable parts are removed). I have since moved the prism to an Autocord; same fit. And then I have an Autocord with a Hasselblad chimney finder, where I had to grind away the mounting tabs.

schmoo, most of the mess you are seeing is the leather and shellac left after removing the leather from a camera that has been stored in a workshop for decades. If the coverings had been in better shape, I would have taken the time to remove them more cleanly. As it is, if the camera works out I can remove the brown ugliness and put new coverings on down the road. I'll also drill out the viewfinder mount and screw it down- less duct tape!
 
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Very Cool!

Dan Daniel said:
Glad people got a laugh from my duct taped Rolleiflex. I actually first put a Hasselblad NC-2 prism on a Yashica-Mat a while back:

4647805494_7fc9d76a32.jpg


And PMCC, I refered to it as my Franken-Mat. Now that I have 'moved up,' your name is perfect!

The Hasselblad NC-2 can often be found for cheap, especially when it looks as bad as the one I have. The optics in mine are still excellent. The prism has a plate for mounting that can be removed and then it slides right into the Yashica viewfinder piece (after the movable parts are removed). I have since moved the prism to an Autocord; same fit. And then I have an Autocord with a Hasselblad chimney finder, where I had to grind away the mounting tabs.

schmoo, most of the mess you are seeing is the leather and shellac left after removing the leather from a camera that has been stored in a workshop for decades. If the coverings had been in better shape, I would have taken the time to remove them more cleanly. As it is, if the camera works out I can remove the brown ugliness and put new coverings on down the road. I'll also drill out the viewfinder mount and screw it down- less duct tape!
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To Eugen Mezei: You asked how I adjusted the film sensing mechanism on the Rolleiflex A. The short answer is: I guessed and got lucky.

The long answer is that the camera had so many problems, It didn't bother me to open up the wind side and poke around. I studied the film sensor mechanism and noticed an offset adjustment 'cam' of a sort, connected to the lower roller and related to the levers that kick in the counter system. I loosened it, turned it a touch in one direction, and it worked! That was it. If it hadn't worked, I would have tried the other direction. If that hadn't worked, I would have put it back where it started (having made an alignment mark before moving anything).

There is an excellent chance that what I did had no bearing on the mechanism working. Maybe I also displaced some dirt opening it up. Maybe I moved something else without noticing. Maybe.... well, I just can't say.

This is all very stupid and idiotic on my part. I would never use a functioning Rolleiflex in good condition as a learner. My basic question to myself before I go inside any camera with problems is, Am I ready to ruin this camera? Because that has happened again and again. No manuals, no training, no proper tools? Excellent way to destroy cameras. Considering the condition of this particular camera, I wasn't risking much.

I'd suggest Yashica-mats as good learners! : )
 
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Well, dead after three rolls, Yashica-Mat.

What happened is the shutter stopped working properly. Now it opens and shuts when you advance the film, and opens and shuts when you reverse the crank to cock the shutter. The shutter button still unlocks the film advance.

I was thinking about sending it out for repair, but have about 90% decided that I will go in and see if I can fix it myself. If it turns out that it needs parts I don't have, I will try to find another and use this one for parts, I only paid slightly more than what a parts camera would have cost for it anyway.
 
graywolf said:
Well, here is my, dead after three rolls, Yashica-Mat.

What happened is the shutter stopped working properly. Now it opens and shuts when you advance the film, and opens and shuts when you reverse the crank to cock the shutter. The shutter button still unlocks the film advance.

I was thinking about sending it out for repair, but have about 90% decided that I will go in and see if I can fix it myself. If it turns out that it needs parts I don't have, I will try to find another and use this one for parts, I only paid slightly more than what a parts camera would have cost for it anyway.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with my rolleiflex 2.8f 3 weeks ago, I fix it myself and now it is working very well. Don't know if the same will applied to your Yashica.

Here is what i did:

I open the "crank thing" to have a look to see if anything was wrong. Couldn't find anything strange there, so I put everything back in its place and screwed back. After that it was fixed! I think the screws and gears are kind of loose. Re-tighten them seems to solve the problem for me.

Hope it'll help you... :)
 
Well, I got a couple of quotes on a repair and CLA. They both come out to about 3x what I paid for the Yashica-Mat (I did spec an extensive CLA). Puts the camera pretty close to what I could buy a Rolleiflex Automat for, but then the Rollei would double in price if I had a CLA done on it.
 
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graywolf said:
Well, I got a couple of quotes on a repair and CLA. They both come out to about 3x what I paid for the Yashica-Mat (I did spec an extensive CLA). Puts the camera pretty close to what I could buy a Rolleiflex Automat for, but then the Rollei would double in price if I had a CLA done on it.
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Always a tough choice, isn't it?
 
graywolf said:
Well, I got a couple of quotes on a repair and CLA. They both come out to about 3x what I paid for the Yashica-Mat (I did spec an extensive CLA). Puts the camera pretty close to what I could buy a Rolleiflex Automat for, but then the Rollei would double in price if I had a CLA done on it.
Click to expand...

Well, I just got another Yashica-Mat 66 (that is what they call it on the instruction booklet) on eBay for parts. No one else bid, as the photos were crap and there was no description. But it comes with the case and lens-cap. Worst looking of the two will be used for parts to fix the better looking one.

Sigh, I now have 10 cameras, and 6 of them need work. I guess that why they call it a hobby. Actually, I like tinkering, It just seems I have no get up and start left...
 
Here are a couple of my recently acquired Yashica-44. It is pretty clean, but I managed to sort of ruin the first roll of film due to bad case of the film loading clumsies. (I have large hands and the film compartment is TIGHT.)


Yashica-44 "Baby TLR"



 
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