Topic: IT'S ALIVE!! MUAHAHAHAHAAA~

[jojonas~]

I finally got my yashica working!!

I'm so glad, atlast me and ugly over here can go out and have fun together again :´)



turns out this loose screw was the culpit:

^{screw you, screw!!}

anyone else have some stories of loved cameras that they got back to working order? I'd love to hear about it~

[SLVR]

not near as ugly as my 44a. The camera was originally the lavender color, but the previous owner thought it would defeminize it by painting it black with a brush. The combination of flaking black paint, no dials, and purple parts in the viewfinder that were never painted make it the ugliest camera i own.

[Francois]

Congrats on getting the beast working again!
For me, it was an Hi-Matic and a Minolta AF-C.

But the hi-matic is the ugliest one I've had in my collection so far. I had to use a hammer on it to get the focus working.

[sapata]

Well done Jonas! It's a great feeling when you bring a camera back from the dead. I had a similiar situation with my Yashica 635 out of focus and just like Francois, the hammer was required to straighten the arms 

Now, I was working on this baby before I moved to Brazil. Probably from under the Titanic wrecks to my then local flea market in Crystal Palace. It cost me £9.50 with a slightly scratched lens, broken ground glass but fully working shutter and no pinholes bellows...

[jojonas~]

tintin: let's see the thing!
francois: ohyeah, I remember you writing about the Hi-Matic. a fond memory :´)
mauricio: you'll have to post before and after shots when you get it working! that one looks like it was tossed inte the barn and left there for a generation or five

keep em coming guys

[Ed Wenn]

Mauricio, that camera looks like something Miroslav Tichý would have used! Good luck getting it back on it's feet.

Jonas...congrats!

[sapata]

mauricio: you'll have to post before and after shots when you get it working! that one looks like it was tossed inte the barn and left there for a generation or five

For sure! I have to say that the camera is quite clean now, the tracks are running freely ( more than it needs actually ) and now I can even close the camera! The right arm it's broken and there's a piece of metal with some wires on its place which I'll remove for sure. I have an old darkslide for glass plates that came with some other random stuff I bought on ebay many years ago that fits perfectly. That was a couple of months before I moved to Brazil...

Mauricio, that camera looks like something Miroslav Tichý would have used! Good luck getting it back on it's feet.

Ed, thank you so much for introducing me to this photographer I had seen one of his cameras before but didn't know it was for real

[Sandeha Lynch]

Mauricio, there's every chance that early Aldis Anastigmat could be a very fine lens indeed.  I'd be interested to see what it can do wide open.

This little gem apparently spent some ten years living in a garden shed in Wales, and it took a LOT of work to get going again - lens, shutter, rewind, rangefinder, all needed work. 



The appeal is that it is sooo small for a 35mm cam, and in the end it was (sometimes) worth it.

[sapata]

Mauricio, there's every chance that early Aldis Anastigmat could be a very fine lens indeed.  I'd be interested to see what it can do wide open.

Sandeha, the scratches aren't that bad but it's visible...any chances that might interfere on the results?

By the way... what a nice little gem you've got!

[Sandeha Lynch]

Sandeha, the scratches aren't that bad but it's visible...any chances that might interfere on the results?

By the way... what a nice little gem you've got!

Scratches on the front can induce flare within the elements and reduce contrast, but won't affect resolution.  I've found a yellow filter can help. 

[Flippy]

Somebody donated a 1955 Edixa Reflex to me which needed extensive fiddling to get to fire again:


Every Edixa I've ever come across has needed to have the shutter lubricated, which runs quite counter to what you normally hear about camera repair.

And then there was a ricohflex with frozen focus and a sticky shutter:


I like the handlebar mustache shutter blades.

[DS]

I've fixed a few- my favourite is the Konica Auto S2 that I bought for £2 that needed extensive work (rangefinder needed rebuilt, shutter needed cleaned, elctrics rewired):

Victory Is Mine! (almost) by Archaeobobalist, on Flickr

It's my favourte cos it's a klunky camera with a stunning lens:

Where is Gandalf? by Archaeobobalist, on Flickr

I'm currently working on the Graflex RB I purchased from Mr- Wenn in May. I've got it working like a charm, but still have to work out how to adapt it to modern filmholders (I can't find any original ones at a price I'm willing to pay). Really looking forward to shooting with it...

[Francois]

I was thinking Graflock back, spring back and custom cut pieces ordered from Ponoko.

[DS]

I was thinking Graflock back, spring back and custom cut pieces ordered from Ponoko.

Difficult cos then I'd have to shim the focus screen up (which would be trixy because of the way it's held in place), and I'd like to retain the revolving back (it's such a beautiful piece of machined brass engineering perfection). The original filmholders are about 16mm wider than ANSI standard, and the register distance (according to the web) is just shy of 1mm further back- so I'll use a piece of mahogany to make the back narrower. Then I just need to sort the register distance- maybe I can use a sheet of brass or something and some shims to do this so it matches the focus in reflex viewfinder. Dunno how to retain this though- i am loath to drill holes for self tapping screws as I'd like any modifications to be reversible. I'll hold the filmholders in place with shock cord or make sprung retaing clips out of ground down hacksaw blades and attach these to the mahogany bits I've added to the back. Another issue is screws- the originals are handmade (and unique), and they were so corroded that some have sheared- If I use modern ones they might split the wood on the body (which has got very brittle with age). Fun, fun, fun for the coming winter.

[Francois]

It might be worth trying to find an old Burke & James view camera just for the spring back that's on it. It's a very simple piece of metal with lead springs that is held by only two screws (is memory serves me well). It also holds the groundglass and a felt viewing hood.