Відео

People sometimes refer to the 111C as the "Poor Man's Leica". I've had 111C cameras for donkey's years and know them really well. I also have Leica. I've done extensive testing, and I can't see any difference in the photographic results between Retina and Leica. The Retina 111c or 111C are very, very good cameras. They're compact and a delight to handle. Smooth as silk and always give fantastic results. Chris, over the years, has serviced many of my cameras. His work is superb, and I wish him the best for his retirement. Selfishly, I'm sorry he's stopped but he's deserved his retirement more than anyone. Thank you Chris. - It's been an honour having you look after my equipment.

You managed this in one episode, but you're torturing us with at least ten. Greetings from Poland😃👍

Hi Chris, amazing how these SLR's work with a leaf shutter! Are you going to finish the Paxette series? I have one in bits and would like to know how to tension the wind on leaver and service the rangefinder. Many thanks.

I got one of these for father's day. Great fun assembling it. Keep the good work.

I bet those leatherettes were glued back on with super glue or as some call it crazy glue.

It's a pleasure to watch a skilled craftsman at work which, together with the explicit commentary and the odd flash of dry humour, sets the standard others should strive for. Thank you.

This does nothing for my GAS. I've seen each model from a German seller at a low price as obviously they don't work. Still getting to grips with a magnifyer head band as I had surgery on my right eye. I hate the thing as makes your head sore. I have -6.5 in my left eye and went from -8.5 to -2.5 in my right. I did not buy the kind you use as both lenses are together making it even more difficult to see! I bought a separate magnification for each eye. Oh for the days of putting that tiny spring back in the retina shutters with nothing but my eyes. Of course the surgeon said oh yes we can keep your close vision. His idea of close and mine are poles apart!

Great and very informative series. Looking at your hands everything seems so easy. We all know that it is not. Thanks 👍

I have a Minolta XE1 and years ago I was going to use it again and could only see half the image. Upon inspection the silver had corroded so much as to block half the viewfinder in a straight line. You can get them re silvered but it costs more than the camera..I bought another camera for parts and swopped it out and as the parts camera was the black version I swopped the covers as well. I now have a working camera again. I was amazed how quickly it went and that was due to rotten foam which etched into the mirror coating.

Hi Chris, Thank you so much for these videos. Looking to take apart the shutter on one of my many 014s. On question for now: What type of grease do you recommend for the helicoid? Thanks Kurt

Great video, thank you for sharing ! And you did a tremendous job on that lens ! Notice that new Red dots can be purchased on eBay.

It was truly a masterful montage. I know that you have to practice it dozens of times to get that good. I am very impressed 👍👏

Since the Retina Reflex shutter is cocked from above while the Bessamatic shutter is cocked from below, is one rotated 180° with respect to the other? EDIT: I ought to have watched for a few more minutes before commenting: yes, it is.

I also find a toothbrush works well on those gearwheel teeth. Another use I have for a toothbrush is the grooves on many camera lens focus and aperture rings.

Chris is a great role model for patience! I would have been well into cursing-and-throwing-things mode the first time that little spring got hooked into the wrong spot on the B lever!

Thank you for making this video. I have a Super Ikonta III (513/16) with stiff focusing and I am about to disassemble the front lens to remove the old dried out grease. It is interesting the 3x screws that hold the distance scale are aligned with notches on the lens barrel. Will pay attention to that. I suspect it is a way to prevent the distance scale ring and the focus coupling assembly from slipping if the notches weren't there. I followed your series to clean a Rolleiflex compur-rapid 00 shutter. So instructional and the shutter is now working perfectly. Thanks again.

I got a Kodak retina, made in Germany, as a prize/trophy in a Kodak employee photo contest, in 1976...it looks almost mint, and with this series, I'll be able to get an idea just what its condition actually is!

I think the cord is a waxed, gel spun polyethylene (GSP) used in fishing. As a rough guess from watching your video, I'd say the diameter is about 0.3mm? There are also beading versions for craftspeople. I've used the waxed version for binding cables and from memory, it looked very similar to the stuff you have. It's exceptionally strong with almost no stretch. Some of the beading vendors refer to this or perhaps a similar material as UHMWPE (Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene). In either case, the non-stretch, long wear qualities seem to be similar. Thanks for your extensive videos documenting decades of hard won expertise!

Hi is the first model Retina Reflex similar to this model 3 that you are working on. Mine has the problem of after winding on the advance the mirror doesn't always stay down so I have to advance the winding again loosing an exposure. It would be great to see you restore a Retina Reflex first version one day.🤞

I love that you took this so seriously. Another fun video!

These videos are incredible, thank you!

Do you think that I can also heat up a SLR with a hair dryer? The film advance lever of my Bessamatic is not going as easy as it should and it is also not automatically returning to its regular position.

This is a great series, thank you. The sychro lever at the bottom right of the faceplate should also be removed to get the cover off - this is why you had difficulties with that corner. The lever comes off its spindle with the removal of the retaining screw and then the spindle stays connected to the shutter mechanism, with the faceplate sliding off over it (much like the centre of the flash port); it has a return spring attached to the underside of the lens board which probably happened to pop off as you were ratching the focus. I imagine this could be a PITA to reassemble if it's disturbed unwittingly, so removing the lever first avoids the potential issue of losing the spring/damaging the connecting lever and makes removing the faceplate easier.

Thank you you are a true craftsman... what has happened to society when back in the 1950' you were considered the top of your trade... right along side watchmakers.... these cameras where truly a work of marvelous precision.

Whats the tool called that you used to unscrew lense body off of the camera. Looked like a weird socket.

Very interesting, well presented activities. Thanks

Every time you look at the scratch, you will hate yourself..... Yup, pretty much sums it up.

Thanks 👍👍👍

So interesting to watch. Any chance you will get back to repairing for others?

A little personal input about removing the fake leather plastic vinyl. I use a reflow heat gun, at about 150°C and going slowly feeling by touch the temperature of the vinyl. This way you can easily remove slowly the vinyl. I had once a old Yashika that had a hardened vinyl by it's age and was cracking, the heat made it ductile again just for the time to remove it without damaging it. Thanks for the video !

Hi Chris! This tutorial saved a Perkeo I bought 'for display only' 3 years back, and it's been my favorite camera since then... I now have an intermittent issue with films being scratched on the emulsion side. Is it possible to remove the rollers? If I can I thought some fine wet and dry to smooth off scratches on the rollers would help, but I wasn't sure if there was any grease needed at the top and bottom of the rollers? Thanks again, your videos are fantastic help...

Great video how can I send you mine to have it serviced? Patrick Master Locksmith Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for the info I needed to take of the top plate to get to the veiwfinder lenses as they had film dirt making looking throught the veiwfinder misty - thanks for showing two screws hot shoe and film chamber although I did not remove the rewind wheel I had just bought this Vito B from a boot sale for £2 everything else works _ h- bargain eh ?😊

Been struggling figuring out how to make tools like this. I will try the Dremel jig soon. It would be amazing to have the actual tools that were used when these cameras were first assembled. Very sad that these tools just seem to have disappeared over time.

Magic, cant beleive how you do this.........currently got a retinette 1b and the lens seems sticky and stiff a circle moves into the viewfinder when moving aperture ring, dont think I have the confidence or tools to do this 🙂

Any tips for someone trying to get the inner shutter ring off? Where can I find the tools and solvent you mentioned?

Lifesaver, this video. Thank you.

Chris, in case I decided to disassemble my Retinette IA using just a single diameter metallic tube with two little horns for the retaining ring, which should be the diameter of the tube, 25mm? 1inch? Thank you.

Hello, I inherited a Retina IIIc (small c) that had been my grandfather's. He passed in 1999; camera only just came to me last week. The caretakers never checked and I discovered that there is film inside. The film door is stuck. The button release does not depress. Is it acceptable to use a drop or two of WD40 to try and unseize the button? At the moment I don't know if its simply stuck or misaligned and therefore blocked from movement. I do see the references to use of naphta for cleaning - but don't know if its appropriate in all cases and ... I prefer to look foolish asking rather than make things worse. It would be ideal to get it open without creating further damage. The indications are the film is color print film; which is doubly lucky. He used to shoot a lot of Kodachrome. ...but this would be C41 stuff that I would at least have a chance to get developed ... once I get it out of the camera! TL;DR - Is a lubricant a reasonable approach to trying to unstick a stuck Retina IIIc film cover release button? If yes, what would be best? Thank you.

I've watched the whole series of 9 chapters. I'm impressed. Now I don't know if I'll dare opening my Retinette IA. The shutter is jammed, but I haven't got the tools. I'll see.Thank you for these fantastic videos.

Camera for Fantomas

Can you show and explain how you dismantled the rear group? would love to see how you did it to clean the glass. My retina IIa rear group is hazy

The Ambi Silette and the Super Silette are two of my favorites! but I am afraid you might get a scolding, doing mechanical repairs on a nice printed table cloth.. I know I would!

one of my favorite cameras... and it is so satisfying to watch a master at work!

for the German cameras with the stuck triplets (front-cell focusing cameras), I have had success with removing the shutter and putting it into a 'toaster oven" for a short time, so that the old grease softens enough to disassemble the lens elements. That green lubricant must have included some wax that hardened over the decades, perhaps the green color comes from reaction with the brass.

Chris, you have personally helped me solve several problems over the years with Agfa and Ansco cameras... and you're videos are helping lots of us. Thank you!

Hi Chris, Just watched this one of yours. It is the same lens/shutter that came on my Perkeo 2. I suspect that mine needs to be disassembled and cleaned as well however having spent months a couple of years ago working on mechanical watches, I know that I don't have the eyes or dexterity. You make it look like you could do a Prontor-S in your sleep!

This will be an interesting adventure when you decide to tear into this one. Because my first 35mm camera in my youth was a Retina IIIC (yes, big "C") I was always keen on obtaining a Retina Reflex as I'd always wanted a "real" 35MM and I thought the rangefinder model was limiting my creativity. Fifty years later, I now own a plethora of these original Retina Reflex cameras and I absolutely adore them and marvel at the mechanical wonders that they are. In use however, I find them frustrating to use with the limited lenses available, the dim viewfinders and the lack of the "instant return" mirror that we all take for granted. From my first servicing of a Retina Reflex model, I'm always amazed how the Kodak AG and the Compur engineers managed to adapt rangefinder bodies and rangefinder shutters to function as "automatic" SLR's. Simply amazing. Of all the work it took to make focal plane shutters work well, it's very clear why after the Copal Square shutter became available, the days of leaf shutter SLR's were numbered. A quick breakdown of any my old Nikon F's as compared to any of my Retina Reflexes quickly demonstrate the total system simplicity of the focal plane shutter solution. A quick review of all the available accessories for those old Nikon F's as compared to the Retina Reflexes also demonstrate the sever limitations that the leaf shutter imposed. For those who had much deeper pockets, we had premium medium and large format cameras that offered both. Because I have both rangefinder and SLR versions of this camera, it's fun to use them side-by-side and interchange the accessories between SLR and rangefinder. As limiting and frustrating as I may find using the Retina Reflex, using the Retina Reflex is a DREAM compared to using accessory lenses or closeup attachments on the rangefinder models. BTW... You made no reference to it during this video, but that prism looks TERRIBLE. That prism looks just like one I had the other year after I'd did a partial teardown and left it on the shelf loosely assembled for a few weeks during the summer. When I returned to that camera, the prism looked just like this one of which I assume to be silver whisker growth. I'd attributed the cause of my top cover not being fastened to the camera body (allowing for an electrical voltage differential to build between prism and cover), my cleaning of the painted prism surface, and the warmer and more humid environment. I've seen a lot of illustrations of silver whisker growth on electrical switch contacts. Initially I thought what I was seeing mold growth, as that's exactly what it looks like and when wiping it off, it's soft and "slippery". I'll be interested in seeing what your observations are when you break into this project in the future. I'll also be interested to see if you install one of those "new old stock" ebay prisms that you guided me to a few years ago. I purchased a few of them years back and they really added new life to my Retina Reflex models. Maybe whatever environment (seaside maybe?) this camera previously lived in encouraged that silver whisker growth on the prism as well as that sand "growth" in the camera body. ;-) Thanks for keeping these adventures coming, Chris. Glenn

Thanks Chris for the sharing. I am cleaning my rolleicord computer shutter but have difficulty of putting 10 aperture blades back because one blade covers 5 slots which makes it is hard to put the rest 4 blades in corresponding slots. Could you please help? Thanks! Not sure if I can post some pictures here.

I got 5 different Retina camera's in a job lot that included 3 Voigtlander Vito B's that I was actually after. The real problem with the Retina's was Kodaks choice to just shove the film advance lever on the bottom of the camera. I still don't understand that design choice.