Rollei, rollei, rollei … keep them wagons rollei’n.

Soooo, I finally ended up with a Rollei TLR … though not the one I really wanted, but heck Rollei’s are over-priced these days so I had to make due with a Rolleicord.

The Rolleicord is the little brother of the infamous Rolleiflex. Franke & Heidecke decided to make a cheaper (more economical) version of their very popular Flex line of twin lense reflex cameras … this way more amateur photographers could get a hold of a high quality camera.

The Rolleicord line started in 1933, and there were many variations of it over the 44 years it was in production. The Rolleicord is easily recognized by its knob winding, instead of the crank winding that the Flex’s have.

I got this one in … of course … “for parts” condition. It has issues with the shutter, the shutter lever knob is bent and not really attached, the leatherette is distrested, and probably a number of other things that are broken.

I was reading up on various versions made by F&H and the model I have appears to be a Rolleicord III with a Triotar lens … 1950-53.

The Triotar, as you may guess, is a triple element lens … and even though it sounds like a simple cheap setup, it can produce some nice dreamy images. It appears that it is very favourable to portrait photographers.

Ok for you Bokeh lovers !!!

Pots … no, not that kinda Pot.

So, got the mechanical parts working on the Yashica Mat-124G … now to figure out how to adjust the light meter.

This camera has a CdS light meter which requires a battery, unlike the burnt out selenium light meters that many older cameras started out with. Sometimes these meters is just not right anymore and require adjustment … sometimes they just don’t do nothing.

A basic circuit consists of a CdS photoresistor, a resistor/potentiometer, power source, and a galvanometer … so how hard could it be to adjust … the Yashica Mat-124G appears to have two potentiometers … hmm.

The first thing to do is to remove the hood. On the left side of the body is a lever that turns the light meter circuit on and off as the hood is opened/closed. The big round thing in the back of the light meter is the galvanometer. To the left of it are the two potentiometers. There are two arms that are coupled to the shutter speed and aperture dial. The speed arm rotates the galvanometer, while the aperture arm moves the aperture target (the yellow arm).

One thing that I did find was that the galvanometer has a cap that the aperture target is attached to. The target arm is pushed as the aperture dial is moved. The seal that was holding the cap in place was broken, so the cap was not in its correct position (looks likes one of the previous owners had dislodged this and also bend the galvanometer arm) … I figured out that the aperture should be set wide open before repositioning the cap.

Trial and error … playing around with all the parts I got the meter to read almost accurately. I still have to figure out the best position of the potentiometers to get some accuracy in low and bright lighting conditions.

… and I say again, thanks to Rick Oleson’s handy dandy CD of tips and for sharing his vast amount of knowledge -> http://rick_oleson.tripod.com … and also Hans Kerensky -> https://www.flickr.com/photos/29504544@N08/albums

** this is an old post, but I thought I should update it with this discussion link from the Photrio forum about these pots

Yashica Mat-124 G … winder side, not side-winder.

This camera has a problem with setting the shutter. A complete wind does not set it, so you can never take a picture … hmm, sounds like something is not coupling correctly.

The first thing you have to do … and you already know this … is to remove the leatherette. Take off the one back/strap holder arm before removing. With the one that I have here it was fairly easy to peel the leatherette off without damaging it. Take your time.

Push out the winding arm pin. Remove the arm and the four items that go with it.

Now you can unscrew the plate.

The rotary disc for the winding arm it attached with a circular nut.

Note the position of the golden arm.

Unscrew it and remove the stuff underneath it.

Remove the spring from the counter reverse lever (right), remove screw and take out arm.

Remove the 12/24 exp indicator plate, first pull off the two springs.

Pull out the silver gear.

The counter change gear arm (bottom) is the next to go.

The counter dial has a spring loaded screw in the middle. Take that off with the dial and the dial plate underneath it.

The counter reverse lever (top) is held on by one screw on the right. Slightly lift the arm on the left to pop it off for removal.

One screw holds the winding stopper arm (centre) , and you should release one arm of the spring.

The middle golden gear (bottom) has one pin screw in the middle that is unscrewed clockwise … very important.

Now you can remove the winding assembly by taking out the four screws.

Now you can see the shutter cocking arm … and in my case it is bent upwards. This means that it will never push down to its full distance.

You can try to rebend it back into shape.

If you want to take that part out you will need to remove the front lens/shutter component.

Here is my bad attempt at bending the arm down … which actually caused more metal fatigue, so when I put it back in it bent itself out of shape again.

Note: on the back side of this part is a riveted switch that prevents double exposures … do not damage this part, as it will cause a lot of headaches. If this part does not freely move, the winder will be in a locked position after the shutter is released. I am guessing this is why some people force the winder and bend the arm.

As I mentioned before, the Yashica Mat-EM has the exact same part (just not golden) so you can just replace it.

When putting back together you should be very careful that the arm is positioned above the shutter release mechanism.

You will also need to reload the spring on the counter dial. If the counter dial is not spinning freely, then loosing the screw and move the dial around so it sits properly.

… and be aware of the little springs that are all over the place.

Yashica … MAT-124G … flaw ?

Out of all the TLR’s out there, I’ve noticed that the Yashica MAT-124G is one of the most sought after cameras … even more than the Rollei because it is more affordable (hmm, actually all TLR’s are more affordable than Rollei’s).

The G, is the moderized/improved version of the plain old 124/12/24. The G refers to the addition of gold contacts in the meter. Some parts were changed from metal to plastic, and the chrome is covered in black paint … to make it a darker camera. In terms of IQ, it has the same optical components as the other models … so don’t think the G is the best Yashica TLR in that respect, especially when the price of the G can be much higher.

You can read more at the  yashicatlr.com site.

In my repair of this camera I came upon a subject that has been mentioned on the web before … incomplete shutter cocking. After taking it apart and doing a lot of mental battles about how the mechanisms work/interact, I came to the “personal” conclusion that there is a design flaw with the newer winding mechanism.

The shutter cocking plate has an elbow that is pushed down by another arm that is connected to the winder cam plate. As the cam plate rotates it pushes/pulls the shutter cocking arm … this arm pushes down to rotate the shutter cocking plate. The problem I have with the design is how high the elbow sits … it seems to me that they placed it too high … and since the shutter cocking plate moves in a circular motion and the shutter cocking arm moves in a linear motion it (the arm) requires most of its force when starting the movement from its highest position.

Now this all works fine when the camera parts are all in original condition, but I think after some time the arm has a greater chance to become stressed (typically when some users unfamiliar with the camera, force the winder when they shouldn’t). Once the arm is bent it will no longer be able to obtain the full motion to complete the shutter cocking … and it does not take much deviance in the arm … and once the metal gets fatigued it will continue to bend out of shape easier … and even after it is straightened (as the straightening process placed additional fatigue on it) it will continue to do so.

The image (in my repair post) shows my sad attempt at straightening the arm … it’s riveted in place which made it not so easy.

Now … to the good news. I made a guess … yes I still have brain cells that can do that … based on the number of Yashica TLR’s I’ve taken apart, the parts appear to be the same. The Yashica-mat EM that I just repaired (and nobody wanted to buy) now became a parts camera … and my guess is right, same part. I think the E, LM, EM, 12, 24, and 124(G) share most the same mechanical parts.

Baby Yashica (44)

The Yashica-44, as described earlier is a 127 format TLR … and this one had a problem that the shutter mechanism was jammed.

In order to get to the shutter you have to take the front panel off and that means revealing the screws. The leatherette is brittle (like the Primo-Jr) so you will not be able to salvage it. You will need to take off the leatherette underneath the shutter cocking arm and the sync lever.

First remove the front lens element cell off … umm, I don’t remember if I had to remove both viewing and taking lens, but I do remember the taking lens front cell had to be removed to give room for the front cover to come off.

Remove the four screws from the front plate. Set the sync to between M and X. Carefully pull off the cover … and note that the flash port has a wire attached to it, so you will not have much play … tilt the left side of the cover plate up and then shift the cover to the right.

Now typically the problem with shutters is that they get gummed up with something … and with a lot of cameras with Copal shutters you can just unscrew the front lens element and then flush the shutter with Ronsonol … I decided to take a closer look.

Since the shutter was jammed I took the covers and speed cam off of the shutter and took a look. The shutter would cock, and the release released … but not much happened. I cleaned up some gummy stuff and put some Ronsonal on the shutter blades. This helped a bit, sometimes the shutter would release but most of the time not. Hmm, confusion … so I searched the web.

There appears to be a problem that plagues certain Yashica TLR’s … the shutter jam (and not the blueberry kind). In researching the disassembly/repair of the Yashica-44 I came across a number of forum posts concerning shutter jams. In most cases there is a warning from others about forcing the self timer lever if the camera is set for M Sync, or if the shutter is gummed up.

I added some arrows to point at different levers that line up with the speed cam

I took a really close look around the self timer mechanism and discovered … wait for it … still wait … a bent arm. A shutter release arm/lever moves down when the shutter is released, and normally fits into an open slot of the self timer arm. If the self timer is engaged the shutter release arm/lever will will stop at the self timer arm until the slot turns around to the correct position … thus letting the shutter completely release. I am guessing the shutter arm/lever (whatever you want to call it) was bent by the action of someone forcing the self timer lever while the shutter mechanism was partially engaged (possibly due to gummed up shutter blades).

Note: when the sync lever is set to M, a metal cover comes up to stop the self timer arm from engaging … so don’t try to force it, because it is supposed to not work.

Remember to check the pins after putting the speed cam back on … also the shutter release lever is on a spring so it will need to be pushed down a bit when putting the front cover back on.