Minolta Autocord – viewfinder

The first thing to clean is the viewfinder mirror and the rear of the viewing lens.

Tools: slotted screw driver, Q-tips, a cleaning cloth, Windex / Lens cleaning solution, blower brush, and Rosonol.

Pull open the hood.

There are two screws on each side of the hood.

Remove all four.

Pull off upwards to remove the hood.

Now you can access the mirror box and also you have access to the rear of the viewing lens.

With really old cameras there may be a lot of dust in this area. Clean the interior of the box with Rosonol.

Clean the mirror with Windex/Lens cleaning solution.

You will notice that there is some play in the position of the mirror. You can make adjustments to center it.

Clean the rear lens element. You might need to bend the end of a Q-tip to get at it easier.

If you take a look at the underside of the hood you will see the bottom of the ground screen.

Do NOT clean this surface. If you do, you will damage it.

If this surface is dusty, then use a blower brush to lightly clean it and blow it off.

You can now put the hood back on.

Secure it with the four screws.

Open the hood.

You can clean the top surface of the ground screen, this side is safe.

Minolta Autocord

I have been requested to start my first camera service post with the Minolta Autocord “export” TLR.

My wife had a Yashica-A TLR that she purchased at a used photographic fair many years ago. I wanted to replace that with a higher IQ camera. In my searches for a “cheap” Rolleiflex I discovered the Minolta. As she is also a fan(girl) of Minolta cameras, I decided to get one for her. You can get some more info about the camera on the About the subjects page.

I got a great deal as the seller was not pricing it high. It was noted as being in not so great cosmetic shape and in unknown working state.

I decided to take the risk that it could be repairable by myself.

It was actually in worse condition. The leatherette was peeling off in many places or was missing, the image in the viewfinder was dim, the focus lever was stiff and not all the shutter speeds operated.

My Web searching began … most of what I discovered was dismantling the Yashica TLR’s. I think that they were cheap and plentiful so many people have done work on them without fear of losing a lot. Many bookmarks later I was ready to tackle the repair and restoration.

The image here is after I peeled off some the leatherette and gave it a surface cleaning. I don’t have an image of the camera when I received it.

I will split up this process into different posts, otherwise it would be one really long one. My blog posts will be about a particular section that I worked on.

About “About the tools” …

I thought I would add some more info about tools … since my last post was about figuring out how to repair cameras for the first time.

My first tool was a set of precision screw drivers. These I have always had since I also do/did Laptop repairs (another one of those hobbies that I picked up). Out of all the tools that I have, these are the most essential … and I have picked up many sets over time (like those damn torx heads). You can never have enough, and you will encounter a screw that you just don’t have the right size to fit. Reminds me of a friend of mine … his workshop has hundreds of different screw drivers, just because he has encountered all these damn sizes in his time.

If you don’t have the right sized slotted screw driver, you will curse yourself for stripping the head of of that last one you just tried to remove !!

Web sites like Favourite Classics offered tons of information from their posts and through the forum. Sadly the forum is dead now, but you can still get info out of the site: http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/articles.html. Google can still find the archived articles but eventually they will disappear. The Rangefinder forum is attempting to integrate the archives … but they have run into a snag which I hope they overcome.

A couple of high end stainless steel pointed tweezers (large and small) are also another tool that is essential. Picking up or holding those tiny screws … or using them as a spanner wrench (when you do not have one). Don’t bother with the cheap ones as they aren’t that strong.

One shop that I have used a number of times is Micro Tools http://www.micro-tools.com/store/home.aspx. They have a number of camera specific tools, and many other items. Almost all of the items on my About the Tools page can be purchased from this single shop.

Watch/Clock repair shops also sell a number of precision tools.

The local hardware store is where I have picked up cleaning chemicals, though I am not too happy about the volume … 1L of Acetone will last me more than a lifetime.

How to start repairing

First, go to your local Thrift store and buy all the cameras/lenses that you can for $20.00. The older the better. This should give you at least two items … possibly five.

Look at the size of the screws holding the items together.

Go to Radio Shack or your local Home Hardware, and get some precision slotted screw drivers or other mico slotted type.

Get some pointy tweezers from somewhere … not sure exactly on that one.

Clear a nice desk area to work at.
Get a good lamp on an arm cause you will need to move it around.

Get some duct tape. Drink some beer, a 6 pack of bottles. Rip 4″ of duct tape. Stick the 6 beer caps on them. Now you have some cups to hold the various screws that you will remove in an orderly manner.
OK, you could probably find something else to organize the disassembly.

Surf the Web … If you are lucky you can search the Web and will find someone else that disassembled the same camera.

Take the camera apart.
Then put it back together.

Note what problems you had with your tools or lack of them. You probably were not able to take it all apart (at least without breaking something).
In order to get experienced in this … you need to know about what not to do and what you can do … you need to make the mistakes now so you don’t do it to an item that you really want to repair.

Fungus / haze

“… and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Many old rangefinder lenses that I have purchased cheap were due to haze or fungus on the lens elements. Removal of this stuff is sometimes hit or miss. I’ve had lenses with obvious haze that cleaned up easily with Isopropol Alcohol … and then there was one that I could never get cleaned as it etched the surface of the element/coating.

Lots of cleaners have been suggested … Isopropol Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ammonia, Acetone, Bleach, Vinegar and even some harsher Acids have been used.

Luckily I had a couple of lenses that had fungus were the light surface type that were removable. One I could not remove completely, but it ended up very thin that it had a minimal affect on the incoming light to the film … though I did not try the Ponds Cold Cream rub which is noted by many.

As the lens coating is already damaged by either, I have tried using Acetone:Ammonia (others use Hydrogen Peroxide instead of Acetone) mix to attempt the cleaning. You have to work at it numerous times to slowly, and even leaving it to soak for a day or two, to get it removed or at least less damaged … at worst it will remove the coating (if the lens is coated) … but hopefully makes the lens usable.

There are many discussion posts about extreme haze cleaning … the last resort being polishing the lens with a very mild abrasive. Some have reported using toothpaste, silver polish …

So if you are going for those cheap fungus/haze lenses … do expect to lose 1/3 of the time. It will either come off easily or it just won’t come off.

Note: one time I did inquire to how much a lens polish would cost … the element was a doublet to it first has to be separated, then polished, then recoated, then recemented … estimated cost $375.00.