TLR's 4x4

Thank you, Tim. Any suggestion other than the "evil bay" ? I was hoping to find some "generic" hood in order to avoir the absurd prices of original Rollei hoods.
Paul
 
I've seen generic hoods from time to time for the full size Rolleiflex TLR's, but never for the Baby Rollei. Not sure there we ever that many BR made to make it worth it for an aftermarket company to develop a lens hood.

Best,
-Tim
 
Thanks, Tim. I'll keep looking, Maybe for a "well-loved" BR hood !

All the best
Paul

I have a generic hood on my Primo Jr. (same as the Sawyer's) - let me see -
OK - it uses an adapter - Tiffen #522 plus a Series V (5) aluminum hood - pretty great set-up and tested with many rolls of film.
 
Thanks, Tim. I'll keep looking, Maybe for a "well-loved" BR hood !

All the best
Paul

Been through this process. Actual Sawyer accessories are extremely few and far between. You may find a lens cap with an advertised camera.
there may be work arounds......to the spacing of the lenses that make Sawyer different from Yashica 44 or other brands....with the exception of Rolleiflex 4x4 Grey baby. The lens cap fits as does the hood. Nice pieces but pricey.
 
My solution - post #44 - was under $40 for the two pieces - looks great and is a screw-in solution not a clamp-on.

Baby Grey hoods will work but are rare and expensive...
 
I'm just using a cheapie plastic hood I found on Ebay. It fits the Baby Rollei bayonet and also on my Ricohmatic. Serves my needs and won't break my heart if I lose it somewhere.
 
CSS9450,
The plastic hood you found, does it have the required cut-out to account for the small spacing between the two lenses of the Sawyer's ?
I have been looking sporadically at ebay, but have not come across any so far. I will keep on looking.
Thanks to all
Paul
 
You are welcome....gladd that others have found satisfactory solutions. The Sawyer and Primo Jr are very nice cameras. the rollei would be great but experimenting with 127 I did not want to go all in as expensive. The even less expensive options are very good. I like the feature of Primo/Sawyer that had LV and standard aperture/shutter speed and the window on top of the lens housing. Most others required turning the camera to see the face for adjustments. I presume plenty of people on this thread find that not to be a "problem".
 
I got a Rolleilux hood/meter combination some years ago -- Bay I. If you loosen a set screw on the bayonet mount and turn it to a second index marking on the hood, the Rolleilux will fit the 4x4 spacing perfectly. You may not want the meter hanging off the hood, but it's pretty handy. I don't know whether the Rolleilux is easily found these days, but I wanted to mention this option.
 
I got a Rolleilux hood/meter combination some years ago -- Bay I. If you loosen a set screw on the bayonet mount and turn it to a second index marking on the hood, the Rolleilux will fit the 4x4 spacing perfectly. You may not want the meter hanging off the hood, but it's pretty handy. I don't know whether the Rolleilux is easily found these days, but I wanted to mention this option.

the "draw" of TLR 4x4 has a lot to do with the form factor and to an extent the image quality better than 35. the idea of Rolleilux seems not consistent with that.
 
Hey. I have a Yashica 44 and Sawyer Mark IV. Something wrong with the Yashica so I'll continue on with the Sawyer.

I have the Camerhack adapter cutter. First roll my Yashica ate it--never even go to the number "1"--, so on to the Sawyer. Second roll I actually used the template on the white side of a roll of film and had to do a few things backwards but in the end I think I might have something--fingers crossed. I'll develop the roll tomorrow. The third roll I did like you're supposed to and after I was done and loaded the camera I couldn't find the "1" to start the roll.

Anyone else?

Another thing, I did as Vince suggested and cut the paper at frame 16 but cut the film at 11 not 10 and carefully fed it back into the roll--no tape --before I closed up the cutter to roll the film back onto the 127 spool. This helped to not have the lump from the film bunching up a the spot where it is taped to the paper. It still bunched up a little so I had to unwind the backing paper to the start of the film and re tape.

I'd be curious to know what other folks experience is with this cutter.
 
Hey. I have a Yashica 44 and Sawyer Mark IV. Something wrong with the Yashica so I'll continue on with the Sawyer.

I have the Camerhack adapter cutter. First roll my Yashica ate it--never even go to the number "1"--, so on to the Sawyer. Second roll I actually used the template on the white side of a roll of film and had to do a few things backwards but in the end I think I might have something--fingers crossed. I'll develop the roll tomorrow. The third roll I did like you're supposed to and after I was done and loaded the camera I couldn't find the "1" to start the roll.

Anyone else?

Another thing, I did as Vince suggested and cut the paper at frame 16 but cut the film at 11 not 10 and carefully fed it back into the roll--no tape --before I closed up the cutter to roll the film back onto the 127 spool. This helped to not have the lump from the film bunching up a the spot where it is taped to the paper. It still bunched up a little so I had to unwind the backing paper to the start of the film and re tape.

I'd be curious to know what other folks experience is with this cutter.

I don't have any experience with it.....but the reports here are somewhat deflating.. Perhaps Vince will jack us up a little.
 
I don't have any experience with it.....but the reports here are somewhat deflating.. Perhaps Vince will jack us up a little.

Heard my name…. 🙂

I’m about to cut 10 rolls of Pan F for a big excursion that’s been in the works for a few years, so I’ll get plenty of good practice with it this week. Really that’s the key - the more you do it, the better you’ll get. And as I discovered, you’ll figure out your own little personal tricks to make life easier for you.

Couple more things that I’ve done along the way: I purposely sacrificed a roll of 120 so that a) I’ll see how the numbers line up with my particular camera (in my case it’s these Rollex-Patent 127 backs for my Ermanox) and b) I’ve saved the paper backing from that ‘test’ roll and I lay it out and tape it to my table when I’m doing new rolls. It’s a reminder for me as to where I need to cut the paper and film, more than anything. I’ve written notes on this backing paper and have circled the proper numbers etc so I don’t forget.

I have tape at both ends so that I’m assured that the film won’t go awry, so you’re a brave soul for not taping that one end. I guess that works if you’re rolling the untaped end right onto the spool to give it a head start. If I find that I have that ‘bind’ in the tape once I’ve rolled the cut film onto the 127 spool, I unroll it (while the paper is still taped onto that 120 spool) lift the tape off the paper side, flatten it out and then press it back in place (as mentioned in my other long-winded post, I’m doing this in my ‘changing room’). I’m now putting a hard mat in the changing room so that I’ll have a hard surface upon which to work, instead of the squishy bottom of the changing room.

I think that’s pretty much it. If your red windows are in the middle of the back of your camera (as they are on the rear of the 127 Rollex-Patent backs), you should see the frame numbers no problem. I think if you just take your time and be methodical you should be fine. I used to have to follow along with Claudio’s YouTube video (in Italian without subtitles) to make sure I was doing it right, but now I can do it on my own. And if the likes of me can do it, then surely you can too.
 
I think the cutter has potential, so I'm encouraged. We'll see how much light piped in since I'm doing this out in the open.

I figured out why the numbers are not being seen when I use Claudio's way of cutting. They are off to the side slightly to the point I don't see it in the red window on the back of the Sawyer. If I use the template "backwards" I then have to spool "backwards" as well--not follow the arrows. The numbers I now see are actually from the 6x9 side, not down the middle for 6x6 or the top row for 6x4.5. They are still to the side but barely seen--I just need to see the "1" to get the Sawyer started.

Taping to the 120 spool definitely made a huge difference in the tightness of the film and backing paper on the 127 spool.
 
CSS9450,
The plastic hood you found, does it have the required cut-out to account for the small spacing between the two lenses of the Sawyer's ?

Hmmm, if you mean a cutout like the hood for my full-size Rollei 2.8 has, then no, I don't think it does. I've never seen a Sawyer's up close enough to notice the lenses are closer together.

Something interesting I noticed about my Ricohmatic: the lenses are further away than they are on the Rollei. Apparently there was no real standard.
 
CSS9450 : I am threading on a pool of ignorance here (mine). 4x4 TLRs (and the Sawyer's) are brand new to me. I attempted to use the hood from my YashicaMat on the Sawyer's, unsuccessfully, it would not fit in between the two lenses. As I was told that the hood for the Baby Rolleiflex fits the Sawyer's and the pictures I saw of these have a cut-out, I assumed that the hood of the Sawyer's also have a similar cut-out. I have no information about the full-size Rolleiflex 2.8.
 
Hmmm, if you mean a cutout like the hood for my full-size Rollei 2.8 has, then no, I don't think it does. I've never seen a Sawyer's up close enough to notice the lenses are closer together.

Something interesting I noticed about my Ricohmatic: the lenses are further away than they are on the Rollei. Apparently there was no real standard.

zeitoun is absolutely correct. The spacing of the lenses and lens mount is dictated by the size of the lenses and the available space. The Sawyer or Primo Jr is a very close copy of the Rollei, especially the housing that allow for a top window view of the aperture and shutter speeds. Yashica does not have that nor does Ricoh. However, to create that extension it requires losing the space . This is why the Rollei 4x4 TLR lens caps fit perfect. It also explains the Rollei lens hood created for the 4x4( withit's cutout) fits the Sawyer. Mark Hansen of zeissikonrolleirepair.com confirmed it with his Rollei and Sawyer. It is very difficult to find an actual Sawyer lens hood or cap.
 
My Sawyer has the original lens cap. I would like a hood for it--what are we looking for?

FWIW, my Yashica 44 has it's original lens cap but that one doesn't fit the Sawyer.
 
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