Removing Old Yashica Covering

[alexmacphee]

I seem to recall that when I did my FX-3, I used methylated spirits and malt whisky. I rubbed meths into the leatherette residue, and drank the whisky. (At least, I think I did it that way round.)

I used Mr Aki-Asahi's kit. Just excellent. The old stuff came away with about half an hour's work, and the new covers go on very easily and snugly.

[5stringdeath]

I seem to recall that when I did my FX-3, I used methylated spirits and malt whisky. I rubbed meths into the leatherette residue, and drank the whisky. (At least, I think I did it that way round.)

I used Mr Aki-Asahi's kit. Just excellent. The old stuff came away with about half an hour's work, and the new covers go on very easily and snugly.

Hehe, thanks

[Rol_Lei Nut]

Mine is used as a beater. I rubbed the rubber stuff off and painted the underlying fabric with leather/vinyl dye. Took about five minutes and has held up 2 years so far.

Nice SL2000F & 35mm f/1.4... ;-)
(Mine say hello!)

[5stringdeath]

Well this turned out to be not so bad, luckily the rubber stuff was still attached to the felt pretty good and it all peeled off nicely to bare metal.

[ic-racer]

Nice SL2000F & 35mm f/1.4... ;-)
(Mine say hello!)

Off Topic: I just got back from vacation using that SL35M but I still yearn for a working SL35E (mine conked out a few years ago). So I did a BIN on ebay yesterday for another. It looks a little beat up, but thats OK I intend to use it.

Its coming with a Rolleinar 80-210 zoom. I have no zooms, and no telephotos, and no Rolleinars, so I'll post my experience with it when it arrives.



5stringdeath, now you need a few Zeiss lenses !!

[5stringdeath]

5stringdeath, now you need a few Zeiss lenses !!

Tell me about it!

[Rol_Lei Nut]

OT: Rolleiflexes

At least in Europe, SL35-Es are fairly common and 3 out of 5 were working properly (o.k. one had no BC function or working self-timer).

A beat-up one is probably actually a good sign: It worked properly for a long time (chances are that it'll continue to do so).

The Rolleinar 80-200s were made in at least 2 versions by at least 2 different manufacturers. I had one (don't remember which), which was quite decent.

Teles: Both Zeiss 85mm are wonderful. The 135mm have a great reputation (haven't used one). The 200mm is optically excellent, but the pre-HFT version is mechanically very delicate (diaphragm mechanism). The Rolleinar (Mamiya) 200mm is optically a touch behind the Zeiss, but still excellent and mechanically better.
The other Rolleinars tend to be quite- to very good, though usually not at the level of the equivalent Zeiss optics (when an equivalent exists!).

My "desert island" lens could well be the 35mm F/1.4, but in practice I rarely use it because of the size & weight of the beast.

Off Topic: I just got back from vacation using that SL35M but I still yearn for a working SL35E (mine conked out a few years ago). So I did a BIN on ebay yesterday for another. It looks a little beat up, but thats OK I intend to use it.

Its coming with a Rolleinar 80-210 zoom. I have no zooms, and no telephotos, and no Rolleinars, so I'll post my experience with it when it arrives.

5stringdeath, now you need a few Zeiss lenses !!

[ic-racer]

My "desert island" lens could well be the 35mm F/1.4, but in practice I rarely use it because of the size & weight of the beast.

Agree 100%. The lens I took on the 'family vacation' was the 35mm f2.8

Continuing some OT discussion: The new-to-me SL35E looks like it will come to me with slotted screws on the front and back. Most I have seen (including my broken one) have Phillips screws. Some google-image searching lead me to see that some cameras indeed had the slotted screws. Also, the shutter on the new one has shiny rivets, as opposed to the black ones on my broken one. Do these differences mean anything?? I wonder if you have seen any small differences between the SL35E cameras?

Here is the e-bay auction of the one on its way to me: 370369251449

[Rol_Lei Nut]

Agree 100%. The lens I took on the 'family vacation' was the 35mm f2.8

Continuing some OT discussion: The new-to-me SL35E looks like it will come to me with slotted screws on the front and back. Most I have seen (including my broken one) have Phillips screws. Some google-image searching lead me to see that some cameras indeed had the slotted screws. Also, the shutter on the new one has shiny rivets, as opposed to the black ones on my broken one. Do these differences mean anything?? I wonder if you have seen any small differences between the SL35E cameras?

Here is the e-bay auction of the one on its way to me: 370369251449

Yes, I love the 35 & 85mm f/2.8 because they're good and tiny (and the 18mm isn't *too* big): The main reason I'm keeping it as my lightweight travel kit and not going 100% Leica R...

I've only seen Philips screws.
I seemed to remember the rivets being black only, but I just checked my only camera without film in it and they are indeed shiny!

Checking the 3003, which basically has the same, but somehow improved shutter (can reliably do 1/2000 - thought it was upgraded electronics, not the shutter itself as the 2000F can be upgraded to the 3003 "inside" AFAIK just by changing the circuitboard), I noticed that it has 2, not 4, rivets and they are flattened and black.

My 3 bodies all have 64xxxx serial numbers. Yours is a 63xxxx Maybe earlier production ones used slotted screws?
Or maybe, as was often the case, it was repaired at some point (electronics replaced) by Rollei or one of it's service centres?

Enough Rolleiflex minutae (for now)... ;-)

Anyway the seller seems serious and reasonable: If the thing is DOA, I'm sure you can reach an agreement...

Enjoy!

[5stringdeath]

So I recovered the body last night .... and the weirdest thing happened.

Ever since I got this body the light meter was flaky ... the LED's inside would only come on intermittently .. changed battery and everything. Figured I could live with that as I use a handheld a lot anyhow. BUT .... after recovering the body last night in new leatherette, this morning I put some film in and went out back to shoot a test roll, and wouldn't you know it ... meter worked fine for every shot! Seemed pretty dead on to my handheld too, taking into consideration the difference between the incident and reflective meters. Ghost in the machine!

Yeah!

Still no Zeiss glass though :-(