Swimming Upstream?

[trittium]

M -> -> ~~~~~~~~~~~Barnack?

I bought a Leica M2, and now rangefinder fever has hit me. I am constantly hunting *bay for good deals. I can't control myself. So my latest purchase was a Leica IIIa from 1936. I am so pumped. It is awesome that I will own a camera older than my grandparents. It came with a Imarect, Summar, and rare Wollensak 90mm f4.5 lens (I think both are going to need a good cleaning which I am going to try to do myself) and I will be able to uses my canon 35mm and 50mm lenses as well. The summar seems original b/c it is also from 1936. If anyone has any information about cleaning these optics please clue me in. I would also love to see examples of images from these lenses. I am so excited to get my first Barnack!

[Brian Sweeney]

I have not taken apart the Wollensak 90/4.5, but their Fastax lenses and other Raptar's come apart fairly simply. They pretty much "just unscrew" to come apart. Maybe a Rubber Cork, can't even remember using a spanner. Post some pictures of the lens when you get it.

[trittium]

Originally Posted by Brian Sweeney

Post some pictures of the lens when you get it.

Sure thing

The description said the aperature ring was frozen, is there an easy way to fix that?

[John Shriver]

Generally frozen aperture rings are just a matter of fossilized lube. Just get down to that part of the lens, and use naptha (lighter fluid) to get things loose, take apart, clean, and very light grease on the sliding ring surfaces. Blades dry, of course.

Summar is a lovely lens, often needs service. You have to remove the one setscrew in the face to take the front apart. There's two separate groups that unscrew there. Rubber sheets are the tool for this.

The rear cell is held by the three setscrews in the barrel, but it is then also a very tight friction fit -- you will NEED to make at least one ring wrench. The rear element is screwed into the rear cell, this is the only place you need a lens spanner.

But if there is internal haze, it's likely to be on the two surfaces facing the diaphragm. Comes from the lube on the operating ring.

Putting the diaphragm back together is "interesting". Patience. But you probably will have to remove the actuating ring, because it is probably very stiff with hardened lube.

You may also need to re-do the blackening on the edges of the two inner groups, could well be peeling off in chunks by now. I used Kodak Brushing Lacquer, but it's long discontinued.

One note, the front glass of the Summar is extraordinarily soft flint (lead) glass. Will scratch if you look at it cross-eyed. Use good lens tissue, always wet, lightest possible pressure, one wipe and throw it away.

[doubs43]

Originally Posted by trittium

The description said the aperature ring was frozen, is there an easy way to fix that?

While John gives an excellent description of taking the Summar apart, you may want to try this to free up the aperture ring: There are two screws in the aperture ring at 180 degrees separation. Remove them and place a single, small drop of naptha in the holes. (I use a syringe) Then try to turn the ring. If it frees up, turn it back and forth until it begins to tighten again as the naptha evaporates. Then use a toothpick to place a very small spot of grease onto the piece inside that will show in the hole. Now move the ring back and forth until it's worked the grease evenly onto the piece and everything works smoothly. (With the screws out, the blades won't move) Return the ring to it's original position and replace the screws. The surface of the piece I spoke of will not be visible as the screws are replaced. The screws press against the sides of the piece to move the blades. It's easier to see what I mean than it is to describe it.

Walker

[trittium]

Oh boy, it sounds like this is amounting to a fun Saturday project. I cannot wait.

[trittium]

Ok, well I got the camera, lenes and viewfinder. It is not an IIIa as the description said it was an III. The Imarect is extremely opaque and appears to have a chip on the inside, and both lenses needed a CLA. Which, after taking apart the summar and messing up the blades, I realized that it need to be done by a professional. I dropped the Summar and Wollensak off for repair. Sorry I didn't take any picture of the lens prior. When I get it back, I will post pictures, as requested. Ok so I am not feeling as good about this purchase as I did before. I contacted the seller, and hopefully we can come to a resolution.

On a positive note... The rf is accurate, and the camera body works yey!

[OldNick]

Don't worry about not having 1/1000 sec. on the dial. I have a III that was factory converted to a IIIa, and the top speed seems little different from 1/500. Just exercise the shutter at all speeds to limber everything up, and, if the curtains are sound, everything should work fine.

Jim N.

[trittium]

The curtains are nice. They look clean, and my repair guy looked at them. He said they were great. By the way, my volcanite smells. I think it is a combination of the breakdown of the material, and the fact that the previous owner was a smoker. I cleaned, but it didn't take away the smell. Does anyone have a trick to get rid of the smell?

[OldNick]

I can offer sympathy but little help. I bought a used saxophone in a "gig-bag" case that had been used by a heavy smoker, and finally had to order a new case. Of course, you can't do that with the camera. You might try placing it in a plastic bag with something that smells better, such as a lemon, and see if the new smell begins to overcome the smoke odor.

Jim N.

[trittium]

AHHH, if only I had lemon!

[back alley]

i have read that putting the camera in a baggie with a fabric softener sheet helps.

[FrankS]

...and baking soda absorbs odors too. Maybe baking soda first, then dryer sheets.

[trittium]

I figured out how to get rid of the smell. I took wet coffee ground and polished them into the vocanite. I let it dry. Then I buffed them off with a clean dry paper towel. Then I added a thin layer of veggie oil. I am not sure how good this is for the volcanite, but it certainly doesn't smell.

I also think this feel better in my hand than my M2.

Update: Several Hours later and it is smelling again. I am going to try some other techniques as suggested, and see what happens.