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Old_school
Tinkerer
Username: Old_school
Post Number: 90
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 - 05:23 pm: | 
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Whom!
I like this site as he tells it like it is & you should pay attention to what he says. He has a lot of information as to why an Overhaul & not a Clean Lube & Adjusted should be preformed & the damage. One of my instructors put it," The people that just squirted oil onto the pivots of clocks, caused a nice lapping compound. This was bad for the clock, but good for the repair business."
http://www.zeisscamera.com/services_cla.shtml
http://www.zeisscamera.com/articles.shtml
By the way, a nice solution to know about is Fix A Drop. It is a very expensive item, but if you want your oil to stay in place without migrating, this should do the trick. It is a plastic coating used in the watch industry. So, lets say you have just cleaned the self-timer or escapement module in an ultrasonic cleaner. After it is dry, you would immerse the module in the Fix-A-Drop solution, & drain the excess back into the main bath of it. Then slightly heat with a hair dryer, warm to the touch, & oil the pivots. Just a drop & the oil wil not migrate from the area you placed the drop. Last time I priced it was like a hundred dollars a bottle. Rolex uses it on their jewels & the auto-wind mechanism.
The Best Mike.... |
Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 117
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 - 09:18 pm: |
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Interesting links. I've visited this site before. After reading through "The One Think You Must Always Do," it makes me glad that the only Zeiss cameras I've ever owned have been Super Ikontas, and makes me really glad I've never owned one of those garage-door-style shutter 35mm Contaxes. I don't mistreat my gear, but I'm not gonna baby the stuff either. It had better be able to handle a bit of rough treatment because accidents do happen.
Sheesh, I couldn't believe some of the delicate stuff he was describing. I'll bet Rolex watches are more robust than those things. |
T6nn
Tinkerer
Username: T6nn
Post Number: 18
Registered: 06-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 - 05:00 am: |
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I was too fascinated by his site, yet some things he said didn't sound quite right to me. Later I found this hilarious exchange of words at photo.net (warning: It goes really off topic soon!): http://photo.net/neighbor/view-one?subcategory=1&neighbor_to_neighbor_id=346240
At least shows that camera repairmen have characters, too. |
Old_school
Tinkerer
Username: Old_school
Post Number: 91
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 - 06:49 am: |
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T:
I think in life we sometimes take a hit. & neither one has anything better to do than point fingers. Some where in the middle lies the truth & they have to live with it & them selves. My instructors always said never to comment on another mans work in the same trade as it never helps anyone out. I will on occasion send something out for service & one of the items happened to be in the photographic department. I sent to a person still in business & has a very good reputation, one of the items failed, he repaired it, but it still had one problem which he overlooked. The film advance was not correct & that was one of my complaints when it was sent to him for service. So, I sent it back to the Factory station, same thing happened & it does make you wonder. The main problem to start with, before the internet took hold in my life, was obtaining parts. I even picked up another camera to scavenge transport parts from, thinking it might be a last resort. This took place over several years, when I took a closer look & have made an attempt at it myself as it was difficult to detect what the was real problem. I think I got it, but not sure as I have not processed any film from that camera in a while as digital came along.(I toyed with the digital. Digital, I think is over rated an under performer, for the $$. IMHO!) I do not complain as two attempts to service it at a considerable cost were made. I had an engineer (optical) who trained at Zeiss Jena East would call me, "Charlie Brown!", & some times I feel just like that portrayed in the Christmas program. Why, does everything go wrong, can't I get anything right? But with a little patience, luck, & time a lot of things in life work out. Surprisingly! The main thing I was trying to bring out with the Zeiss web site, is the extensive knowledge this man has & he did put a lot of effort into his site. The German stuff, almost anything they make, is vey well made. There is one thing about them & that is in the true European form, they are designed to be serviced periodically, too insure a job for there technical department. The information is very obscure & use to be hard to obtain. Like SK Grimes description of the Leica drum testor, & how he managed to dissect it like the Enigma Code machine.
I could not find any information before on the inner workings of the Zeiss cameras, & find this site very fascinating. After reading through the site & viewing the images, I now have a very good idea how the systems are suppose to work.
The Best Mike.... |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 226
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 24, 2011 - 08:41 am: |
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After some time in german industry I find out the german engineering style to be 'utter stubborness'. Of course, this is a broad generalization, but there's the streak you can notice throughout all german designs from the past century or so, that seems to confirm my present-day observations. If a german team designs something, the FIRST working idea is going to be followed. Period. If it's inefficient or has problems, these problems will be addressed with great diligence, but the base idea will remain standing until all attempts to improve it fail. Putting it in a picture, if you need to get a 2m wide car through a 2.05m wide wooden gate each day a german team will design a laser assisted driver support system to guide the vehicle down to 0.01mm through this gate before they even consider moving the outer planks wider so that a blind toddler could drive through.
German industry's perfection in precision design is its own nemesis, because most other would fail to build a laser assisted guidance system and reconsider the assumptions soon, but germans not only design it, they build it and sell a million copies before somebody realizes this is pure nonsense.
The result of this can be observed in a - otherwise really beautiful - Contax cameras for example.
OK, now I get fired ;P
Marek |
Michael_linn
Tinkerer
Username: Michael_linn
Post Number: 16
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 24, 2011 - 06:36 pm: |
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Marek-
Interesting post. Being retired from a Swiss-German optical manufacturer, I get your point, and I agree.
As for Mr. Scherer, I agree that his website is very interesting and contains much material of historical interest. But the singular impression I come away with is that Mr. Scherer considers himself to be the current incarnation of all that was Zeiss Ikon in the 1930's. He seems to channel it. As the only person in the world with the unique experience, dedication, materials (custom silk curtain ribbons, custom made 1930's paint, etc,), techniques, and absolute perfection, it is difficult to not fall under his spell. It's no wonder that he has a two to three year backlog.
But who are his apprentices? Is this knowledge and wisdom worth preserving? Will a book be written to aid the next generation?
I don't see any of that. I'm sure that he would say that none of the younger generation has the interest or the skills. Perhaps that is true, but not until the theory might be tested.
I own a couple of 1938 Contaxes, and they are elegant marvels of design- basically designing around the patents of a much simpler Leica design which predates them. I think it is curious that the actual inventor of the Contax I, II, and III, Professor Emanuel Goldberg (1881-1970) a founder and Managing Director of Zeiss-Ikon is not mentioned anywhere on the Scherer website. So much for history.
I would rather work on any Leica, or just about any Japanese 35mm camera (except maybe for the Canon EF) than one of these Contaxes.
But I am a retired pensioner from that Swiss-German now Swedish company so I can't be fired!
Mike |
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