Wish me luck!

Well, friends, after having successfully opened up and repaired numerous vintage cameras, from Argus A2B and C-3's to Japanese rangefinders of all kinds, Canon AE-1's and plenty of Spotmatics, SRT's and Nikkormats, I may finally have met my match.

Last night I opened up an Agfaflex. A somewhat rare bird these days, this camera features a between-the-lens leaf shutter in an SLR. The mirror stays down after one takes the shot; advancing the film returns the mirror to its operational (i.e. "down") position while cocking the shutter. In this particular example, the shutter was not shutting - which is, after all, the point of a shutter - and the mirror was not fully returning to home base, so surgery was necessary.

What an unusual Rube Goldberg-ian contraption! The thing is, they come apart pretty easily . . . it's the putting back together that's an issue. And unlike more popular makes and models, about which the intertubes practically teem with pictures, videos and step-by-step how-to-do-it's there's next to nothing on this baby. So it looks like I'll be figuring this one out one gear, one lever, one spring at a time.

Wish me luck!

This could take a while . . .

Anyone else here enjoy the process of camera repair?

Good luck!

I do enjoy repairing cameras as well. I do have to dive back into my Miranda F to see why the film counter isn't working. Also have a 28/2.8 lens I need to re index at infinity focus, my own dumb fault on that one, didn't mark the starting helix before pulling the barrel out.

Take pictures along the way for others while you're at it.

I'll try to remember to do that; generally I attack with gusto, and get so caught up in the process I lose all track of time . . .

BTG,

I do enjoy camera restoration and repair. But I know my limitations, knowledge gained by my spectacular failures.

Simple shutters are OK. I wont touch focal planes nor anything digital.

For jammed shutter mechanisms, leaf or focal plane, my best and most successful tool is a few drops of lighter fluid judiciously and sparingly placed on leaves and in openings. If it frees the mechanism I operate it many times. Let it sit a day or two and repeat as often as necessary.
Jams are often caused by the old lubricants. I caution you against using alcohol. It can dissolve some old shutters. Try not to get the lighter fluid on the cloth focal plane shutters.

I thoroughly enjoy cosmetic restoration and replacing wooden parts and even some bakelite and metal parts.
I am very good at restoring old, badly folded and creased bellows and their pinholes.

Good luck.
Mickey

Best of luck! I wouldn't even try to attempt something parallel as I don't know very much about them!

I don't try to repair cameras, but here is a link (if you are not already aware of same) to the repair forum on APUG: http://www.apug.org/forums/forum147/ This is a great resource and a group of very helpful people, including some pro repair people.

Thanks, all! I may have to sign up to the apug forum; so far I see very little info on this particular camera or even on the shutter. I am impressed with anyone who does bellows repair - I have a lovely little Ansco Regent that continues to vex me in that regard (light leaks through the bellows) though the rest of the camera works well.

Update on the Agfaflex - well, I am a big fan of lighter fluid, judiciously applied. The trouble with the Agfaflex is that I couldn't even see where the shutter was, originally! It was nestled almost invisibly in a slot between the lenses, the leaves all tucked away where no one could see them. Once I got the whole thing apart, a few drops of lighter fluid liberated the shutter. Trouble is, in hindsight I really hadn't needed to pull everything apart to get at that particular spot. Putting it all together again will require three or four hands and a couple of brains. So I set it aside for the night last night and turned my attention instead to a Yashica Mat LM with a finicky wind mechanism. That's the great thing about having a bunch to work on - there's always another one clamoring for attention.

Good luck with the reassemble. Working on cameras must be tedious, but rewarding. Never tried it.

Tedious, always. Rewarding, when it finally all works. Which can be, depending on the original condition of the thing, a rare and treasured moment. Then there's always the possibility of more complications! I had finally unstuck the shutter of a Yashica-Mat EM (after several long and late evenings of the aforementioned precision work), much to my great joy, and proceeded to load a roll of lovely B&W 120-size film. I took the first shot without incident, then she froze up and refused to advance to the next frame. An entirely different mechanism inside the camera was responsible . . . back to the kitchen table!