Equipment comes from and goes to servicing

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I just came home from Bologna with three lenses fixed by the service lab.

My Jena Sonnar 2.8/180 (first copy) had the front glass block moving inside the barrel hosting cave, now is tight and beautiful.

The Rollei Sonnar that Michael sold me, and that I used in Budapest for many beautiful pictures, was repaired in the aperture ring, that had some missing parts and did not rotate regularly. now it is tight and smooth as new.

And finally the MIR-26B, which was in poor condition, with non- working aperture and parts of the barrel unglued and moving, is now also as tight as new.

All in all I spent 140 Euros, which means less than 50 Euros per lens. Not cheap in absolute terms, but Italy is not a cheap country to live in. Actually I think in many areas we have the worst prices in the EU. Considering the quality of the service given, I am very happy. I have now recovered to full use three lenses.

Today I also delivered them for servicing, the Jupiter-6 (sob) and the Agfa Record II.
The guy, who has an incredible clinical eye, immediately understood that there was something wrong with the cohesion of the two parts of the lens, surely a damage caused by the fall of the lens during travel. So it seems he will have to do more work on the lens than I initially though Sad

The guy at the reception was stunned when he saw the mint condition of my Agfa Record II - it really seems to have come here with a time machine. I don't know where the previous owner stored it, but it totally looks as just out of the factory.

About this camera, I forgot to ask the technician how do they measure the focus. Do any of you know, how technician can measure focus in a non-reflex lens?
Does he have to shoot test films and develop them until he finds the right setting?
Or does he have a scientifical instrument that can measure the focusing ability of a lens even without looking through it?

AS a reminder, my Agfa record II was not able to focus anything at all - everything appeared blurred, my guess is that it is set to somewhere much beyond infinity focus. Otherwise it's difficult to explain, I think, how nothing in an image appears in focus.

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Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

I am glad you rescued this old beauties! Enjoy them!

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

Congratulations to your new, old lenses. Wink

Some 140,- € well spent.

As far as the focus of non-reflex cams is concerned, I know that magazines - until the 80s - used some kind of focussing screen device that could be placed where normally the film layer is and then they could check the focus with a magnifying glass or something.
Perhaps they do the same...

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04