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Timdenning
Tinkerer
Username: Timdenning
Post Number: 9
Registered: 10-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - 02:41 am: | 
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Hi - just acquired my first Rollei 35 - it's an early model made in Germany in very good cosmetic condition. The meter doesn't work but I'm looking into getting a suitable zinc/iron battery - the real problem is the failure of the release lever to release the sprockets so that the film can be rewound. Moving the lever to the 'up' position doesn't reliably free the sprockets although if I fiddle with the release lever and the film advance sometimes the sprockets become free and stay that way even if the lever is down...
Any advice very welcome.
Tim |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 306
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 19, 2012 - 03:28 pm: |
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As far as I can see, the entire mechanism here is inside the film sprocket, and note that it takes a little rotation when relocking, before the advance works again. I'm guessing that whatever is inside is very simple, and spring loaded. It may not be expensive to repair, but before doing much I'd resort to my usual first line of defense. Operate the lever about 50 times over and over again, and see if things free up with repeated use. Each time you re-engage the wind, turn the sprocket to see if the one-way latch engages.
On the battery, my local dealer suggested that these meters are pretty easy to recalibrate, and reset mine to work with an alkaline or silver oxide battery. Even so it's a pretty primitive meter, and I don't rely too heavily on it except for a starting point. If I were trying yours I'd try an alkaline battery first, and confirm that it's really working, and also see if it's close enough to compensate by offsetting the reading, or perhaps fudging the ASA rating. Remember that you can't replace a bad battery except between rolls of film. Since there is no "off" switch, you must put it in a case or cover the meter window for long battery life, and a hearing aid or Wein battery will go dead pretty fast if you forget. |
Fallisphoto
Tinkerer
Username: Fallisphoto
Post Number: 282
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2012 - 10:18 am: |
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"Whatever is inside" pretty obviously needs a good cleaning and relube. You might be able to get around this by flushing it with electronic componen t cleaner and then trying to work a drop of oil in there, but the only sure way it to take it apart and clean it by hand.
As for the meter, you can't adjust a meter meant to be powered by mercury batteries so it will give you anything like reliably accurate readings with batteries with the wrong voltage. If you get it right at one end of the scale, it will be even farther off at the other end on the scale. You have to modify the meter. You do this by soldering in an appropriate shottkey diode in series with the battery compartment. This will allow you to use a silver oxide battery in the camera (but not an alkaline battery, which does not have a stable enough voltage). |
Timdenning
Tinkerer
Username: Timdenning
Post Number: 10
Registered: 10-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 22, 2012 - 02:47 am: |
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Thanks to M_currie and Fallisphoto for the helpful advice. I decided to get a quote for a repair and took it to a very helpful camera repair centre in Liverpool - Newton and Ellis - they have a a good website and specialise in classic cameras. Quote was a very reasonable £65 - just over $100 - for sorting out the sprocket problem and the meter. |
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