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Stephen
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 12:52 pm: | 
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Someone gave me a Rollie 35, looks like everythings working fine except the light meter, even with a new battery, the white needle just not moving. Does someone knows why and does it cost a lot to fix this? |
Paolo Amedeo
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 03:05 pm: |
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Hi Stephen,
I have dealt with several Rollei 35 (mostly cleaning internally and servicing the shutter), but I don't have a single one at hand... I kind of recall two things 1) there should be a battery check button (I bet, somewhere on the front ahd, if I remember correctly, it's a small "black thing") and the light meter circuit is activated by the winding lever (not sure if this is valid for all the models) and/or when the shutter is loaded...
First, using the battery test, does the needle move?
Trying to "shake" the camera while watching in the finder, do you observe any slight movement of the needle or it appears completely stuck?
If you have a multi-tester: setting it to measure resistances up to 20 kohm and connecting one electrode to the frame and the other to the insulated battery contact, do you see if there is any "finite" resistance? And, if yes, does it varies pointing the camera to the light or to a dark area?
The camera isn't very very complicate to take apart but, I recall, there are several tricks (that, unfortunately, I don't remember not having a camera in front of my eyes) and it is extremely easy to scratch it...
Although the repair itself could be, most probably, easy, I wouldn't recommend you trying yourself if you don't have the proper tools, skills and indications.
Unfortunately, since I have worked on those cameras myself, I don't have any good indication where to send it.
In any case, answering the above questions, would help drammatically to narrow down the problem...
Good luck!
Paolo |
M Currie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 04:27 pm: |
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My Plain Rollei 35 (no letter suffixes, etc.) does not work as Paolo describes. The meter is always on and there is no test button. I don't think the meter circuitry is very complicated, but if you take it somewhere it will still cost something, even to open it up. Before sending it out or opening it up I would double-check the cleanliness of the battery terminals and the condition of the battery. When I first got mine it would only work when I squeezed the case in a certain way, and it turned out to be a very slight corrosion of the battery surface, not enough to think important.
If you do take it for repair, and it turns out to be reasonably repairable, you can have it recalibrated for silver-oxide or alkaline batteries while it's open, if it hasn't been done already. My local camera repairman told me this is a simple one to adjust, not requiring voltage regulators, adapters, etc. |
stephen
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 10:19 am: |
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Thank you both for the info, my do not have a battery check button. It is a Plain Rollei 35, I put in a Kodak 625A Alkaline battery but the manual say PX13 and very low temperatures use PX625, so does it mean this need to be recalibrated. I'll try to look into this on the weekend. |
Paolo Amedeo
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 12:49 pm: |
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As I have said, I am recollecting memories of a few years back... I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong... Most of the cameras I had to do were actually among the latest models, "Made in Singapore"...
Anyhow for what regards switching between the old 1.35V and the 1.5V batteries, in many cameras the difference in metering is less than 2 stops. Old central shutters lose some strength with the time and times get longer.
If you manage to get it back working yourself, I would suggest putting the PX-625 and test it following the indications of the light meter, plus some bracketing. Using slides it would be the best, since they are the most sensitive in terms of correct exposure...
A battery with higher tension would generally lead to underexposure. Slow shutter times would generally compensate it at least in times faster than 1/15 and, probably, it wouldn't be necessary any adjustment (or, if the light meter needs to be adjusted, you would now have the precise data of how much should it be adjusted)...
In no way the higher tension of a PX-625 could do any damage at the circuit.
Honestly, I don't remember 100% if in that particular model, the "circled needle" would move adjusting both times and opening or only with one of the two (I would bet times): if it is the latter, light-meter "inactivity" could be caused also by bad contacts on the resistors (simulating the diaphragms)...
Paolo
PS I am still not sure that the circuit wouldn't be interrupted by some switch: whoever has a "plain" Rollei 35 in their hands, could see if, by any chance, the light meter works even when the lens is retracted? |
Ed
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 06:41 pm: |
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this camera was prone to having the battery wire corrode--you can check under the top cover--if it is corroded, clean surface well and be sure to use rosin core solder. |
Reiner
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 11, 2005 - 05:02 am: |
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I have repaired several Rollei 35's in the past and I have several of them at hand.
I never saw one with a battery check button! The simple light meter design of the follwing models is allways identical: Rollei 35 (Germany made and Singapore made), Rollei 35 T and Rollei 35 S. There if absolutely no switch in the light meter circuit of those. You can rely on it. The meter is allways on even when uncocked and even when the lens is retracted.
When the ligth meter is inoperative I could swear that the acid of a leaky battery once creeped up and destroyed the junction of the negative battery contact. If you get the top cap off (search for "Rollei 35" in this forum) you should easily see it.
The negative battery contact is made of a stainless steel which can not be soldered. Rollei welded a small metal flag to this stell contact. The other side of this small flag was soldered to the light meter circuitry. However when the solder point is destroyed by battery acid the welded juction will be gone too. At least all cases I saw were like that. It was impossible for me to solder a wire directly to the stainless steel contact. The plastic battery chamber would be easily melted. I prefered to replace the stainless steel contact by a self cut piece of plated metall which accepts solder (f. ex. brass). It is not difficult to solder the wire of the meter circuit to it. There is only the disadvantage that the new contact would be more prone to corrosion than the original one. But it was never a real problem for me.
Hope that helps and good luck. |
Robert
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 11, 2005 - 06:36 pm: |
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If I remember correctly, the *WHITE* needle is the one with a hole in it?
Then that's the follower pointer, whose position is set by cams on the shutter and aperature setting dials. Corrosion could be binding the linkage, or the spring is broken, etc. |
Robert
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 11, 2005 - 09:21 pm: |
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Opps, egg on my face - the plain Rollei 35 comes with a white meter needle and a red follower - but, somewhere in the depths of my mind, I recall seeing some sort of Rollei with a green meter needle and white follower... |
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