[Leica] Rollei

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

Hey, he could also buy a decent "flex" and solve the problem. John has
some nice units: no excuse. The 3.5F he sold me is a gem.

Cheers

> At 10:51 PM 2/7/2007, G Hopkinson wrote:
>  >Hey, we're almost sort of on topic. We are talking about classic
>  >German cameras.
>  >
>  >I finally ended up with the Rolleicord Vb 2. It's awfully nice. The
>  >brighter finder is a big leap forward from what I'd seen
>  >previously.
>  >
>  >Cheers
>  >Hoppy
>
> If you keep this up, I'll get you signed up yet
> to the Rollei List yet, a sister to the LUG, and thanks, Brian!
>
> Franke & Heidecke perfected the modern TLR (yes,
> yes, there had been plate-camera TLR's earlier,
> but the concept was moribund when they switched
> from stereo cameras to the TLR in 1929).  They
> chose for reasons of optical purity a
> first-surface mirror in the viewing
> cabinet..  For reasons of economy, they chose a
> silver surface as aluminum surfaces on mirrors
> were then most expensive and also an oddity.
>
> Clean the mirror.  This will dissolve any
> remnants of the silver coating, I fear, but, a
> clean bare glass surface will do rather well on
> its own merits.  (I know:  I've been there, done
> that, and have the Tee-Shirt).  It would be
> better to have the mirror recoated.  I have been
> into amateur astronomy long enough (more than
> four decades) to be able to send you instructions
> for doing the silvering yourself at home, though
> you will be dealing with some rather nasty
> substances so caution is in order.  There MAY be
> firms in Australia which will do this as well,
> though I do not know of any such.  (I had a time
> finding US firms still doing silvering for the
> Great Guru of US Rollei Repairs, and I finally
> located three of them.  I kept encouraging him to do it himself.)
>
> There are certainly firms which will coat this
> mirror with aluminum, as you guys call it.  (Our
> Aluminium Company of America in my hometown of
> Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bought a sign
> immediately before they opened their doors to the
> public.  The signpainters left out that last "i"
> and it was cheaper to revise the corporate
> filings than to get a new sign, so youse guys say
> "aluminium" while usans say "aluminum", as we
> would say back in da Burg.  Go figure.  Stan
> Yoder probably knows more of this:  he has a
> handle on ALL of the mysterious elements of
> Western Pennsylvania life, and he DID keep a
> number of my distant cousins from the sort of
> life of ruin and ill-repute to which I've been
> reduced.  <he grins>)  There are long arguments
> about this in the astronomical community, as
> silver coatings are fragile and easily decay but
> more accurately reflect the wavelengths seen by
> the human eye, while aluminium coatings are
> tougher and more stable and respond better to photographic wavelengths.
>
> And, of course, you should CAREFULLY take out the
> screen, noting the paper shims, and clean this
> off.  Yours might be glass or it might be
> plastic, but, in either event, a dunk into a
> kitchen sink laden with a decent detergent would
> be salutary.  (I would wash the skillet in which
> you cooked up your Australian Ugly-Lipped Eels or
> Kippered Kangaroo AFTER you wash the viewing
> screen, mind you!)  An old toothbrush might well
> be useful for the task though I'd not use the
> stiff wire brush you use to get the gunk out of
> the rear brake drums on your 1953 Sunbeam Talbot
> Roadster.  Like things to like things, and all of that.
>
> To cut to the quick, my friend, I would suggest
> that you remove the viewing mirror and have it
> recoated with aluminium and with an overcoat.  I
> would also suggest that you remove the viewing
> screen, carefully preserving any paper shims
> which may or may not be beneath it, and scrub the
> daylights out of this with dish soap.
>
> That Prince of Darkness, Joe Lucas, will again be
> defeated, and Bob's your uncle.  QED.
>
> Marc
>
>
> msmall@aya.yale.edu
> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>
>
>
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