Posted inCamera Repair Photography

Rollei 35 TE Repairs

I bought a Rollei 35 TE recently that had a couple of issues, and it was driving me bonkers that I could find very little information online about this great camera. Everything I could find, including the service manual, was for the previous generation 35, S and T series cameras.

The issues with my TE were in the meter and lens barrel. The lens barrel was loose and when retracted the lens kept flopping out. (This is a common ailment with all Rollei 35 cameras.) The other problem was that the meter would not auto-off after 10 seconds as stated in the manual. It was always on as long as there was a battery in the chamber.

Metering was spot on and agreed perfectly with my Gossen Lunasix3 and the camera still took a great picture despite these issues, but they were quickly becoming a major annoyance. Since all the repair estimates I got were for much more than what the camera cost me (and often more than what I could realistically sell it on eBay for) and did not guarantee the meter could be repaired or replaced (in fact most were convinced it could not). I decided to try to fix it myself and document the process for others that might be facing the same issues.

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Posted inFilm Development Photography

Rollei / Compard Digibase C-41 Processing Kit

I just received this great C-41 process developing kit (I got the 20 roll kit) from freestylephoto.biz, and I’m diving head-first in to processing my own color film for the first time.

The process seems only a bit little more complicated than black and white and the Rollei / Digibase chemicals have the advantage of being usable at an easy to maintain 25°C.

I put this page together as a cheat-sheet for myself and most of the information here can be found in the Rollei / Compard Digibase C-41 Processing Kit Instruction Guide [PDF]

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Posted inCamera Repair Photography

Yashica Electro 35 GSN Rangefinder Replacement

My first attempt at finding a working copy of one of these fabulous but mechanically and electronically finicky cameras landed me a fine looking example of electronics that were way beyond repair. Still, the $30 price of admission was well worth the entertainment value of trying to fix it up. 🙂

The second attempt was an eBay buy that was maybe a 9.5 cosmetically and sound mechanically but had one major flaw which made it a pain to use… The rangefinder spot in the viewer that is used to focus was almost non-existent. For extra fun, it also had just a bit of vertical misalignment causing a “double vision” effect which made focusing difficult even on bright days.

Since I had the parts from a whole other camera, (happily the focusing mechanism on the broken GSN was in stellar shape) I decided it was high time to perform a little surgery and build… a Frankie.

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Posted inFilm Development Photography

Caffenol-C Developer

My recipes for Caffenol-C

  • Dissolve ingredients in order listed
  • Make sure washing soda is completely dissolved before adding vitamin C
  • Wait for bubbling to subside before adding coffee
  • Let developer stand for 5 minutes before use
  • Use within 30 minutes
  • Strain developer
  • Agitation: 1st 30 sec then 10 sec on every minute
  • Cross-Processing E6 Slide Film: 15min
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Posted inFilm Development Photography

Rodinal / Adonal Developer

In this post, I am collecting my experiences developing black and white film with Rodinal developer. (Now sold as Adox Adonal.) I have a little notebook with all of this information that would be a huge pain to lose, so I’m transcribing those notes here and adding more as I learn.

For the basics, the wiki post is a great place to start… (Be sure to check those external links!)

Digital Truth has a massive chart of development times for Rodinal with all kinds of film as well as the Rodinal product leaflet. You can find the Adonal Material Safety Data Sheet (the stuff I use) at the Adox.de site. I ordered my 500ml bottle of Adonal from FreestylePhoto in the USA. In Europe, you can order from SilverPrint.

To check out other great images developed with Rodinal and get feedback from some really knowledgeable people, check out the Flickr Rodinal Group.

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