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Lauri Kapari
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 12:29 am: | 
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Greetings,
I just got an Agfa Isolette II that seems to be some kind of a special version. It has a leather bellows, a solinar 4.5/85 and a 1/500 Compur rapid.
The problem is that the front lense element seems to be somehow out of placement. I checked the infinity focus following Rick's instructions and beautiful Dali-like drawings and found out that the infinity focus indeed seems to be slightly off. Even more worrying was that changing the focus from infinity to 1m didn't seem to have any effect. I have read somewhere that sometimes the lens element may be stuck and the focusing consequently doesn't work. Could this be the case with my camera, and if so, what should I do with it? Does dealing with a Solinar bring some new aspects to the possible repair operation compared to an Apotar Isolette? |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 07:24 am: |
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There are no major differences between repairing a Solinar lens and an Apotar lens. As you can see from lens diagrams the Solinar just has a cemented rear element while the Apotar has a single rear element. The mechanical design is identical.
As you mentioned it may happen that the focussing helicoid is so terribly frozen that you may unscrew the whole front cell when trying to focus. Since the thread of the front cell has much smaller pitch, and since the two front cell lenses have longer focal length than the front lens element alone the effect on 'focussing' will be much less than when focussing correctly with the front lens element alone.
I found that applying hot air with a hot air gun will loosen the gummed grease in no time. I found this after applying every solvent I could find without any results for an hour or so. The hot air gun solved the problems in a few minutes.
For further details on fixing an Isolette, see
www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk
Concerning the 'special version', the Solinar/Compur combo was not sold too often but it is far from being very rare. In most cases this combo comes on Isolette III. If you find a leather bellows (with embossed surface) instead of the ***** (censored) original shiny bellows maybe it has been replaced before. I have run across one or two Isolettes with non-original bellows, too. |
Scott
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 08:36 am: |
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If you find that you are unable to get a sharp image at the focal plane, whether at infinity or any other setting, then there's another possibility you might check.
A mistake which I myself have made is putting the rear lens in upside-down. That makes it impossible to get a focused image. |
Lauri Kapari
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 11:57 pm: |
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Thanks for the tips. I removed the screw/knob that sets the focus boundaries, and sure enough, the whole front cell screws right off. |
Marco
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - 02:24 pm: |
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I had the identical problem with a Agfa folder a few months back. The grease set so hard that the elements needed to be heated in the oven at it's lowest setting....I then took two strips of rubber from an old inner tube and used two hose clamps to get a better grip on the two groups to be separated. I still ended up using pliers to grip the two separate elements....
Marco |
martin pickrell
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 05:05 am: |
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Hi,
I have just bought a Super Isolette in beautiful condition except that focusing ring is frozen. Can the heat treatment suggested by Winfried be used without disassembly of the lens/shutter etc.? I hope so as the disassembly of a camera in such beautiful condition is daunting. Thanks,
Martin |
Lauri Kapari
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 02:16 am: |
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The heating treatment didn't work for me. Nothing seemed to work at first. I had to dip the whole front lense element in ethanol (front lense downwards, just enough ethanol for it to reach the helicoid) for about 24 h. That did the trick.
The infinity adjustment wasn't as simple as I thought it would be, since the adjustment was slightly off even when the front element was as far in as it could go. I had to unscrew the rear lense for about one third of a turn or so, to get the infinity correct. Rather strange thing really, but it seems that the camera had seen some less than professional tinkering before (other than by me, that is...).
As for Martin's question, I can't say if heating the whole camera would do damage, but if the front lense assembly screws off easily, then I'd do it. It doesn't require medling with the shutter. |
Jan Bernhardtz
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 11:34 pm: |
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I did it the other way around. Put the camera in the freezer for some days. I actually forgot about it. Three days later I took my Isolette III with an excellent Solinar out of the freezer and managed to loosen the gummed up grease. |
