Flexaret VI cheaply.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Not exactly flea-market cheap, but about a third the price a decent working one would be, and it's hardly been used.
Suffering from lack of use and then being stored in a cupboard for a couple of decades.
Apart from the slow shutter speeds being glacial (and the faster ones are not as fast as they should be), also the focusing lever is a bit stiff, although useable, it's almost like a fairly new camera.
I'll have a closer look at disassembling the front and cleaning the Prontor SVS, at the same time clean the lens elements from the haze that's built up.
Looking forward to shooting this, not had a TLR in my hands for a very long time, more than fifty years.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Nice! Congrats!

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Had a quick and dirty go at freeing up the speeds, with judicious squirts of contact cleaner into the shutter mechanism, then left it for 24 hours to evaporate.
Seems to have worked, as they're all now about right and the camera is behaving itself.
I'd normally not be so cavalier with the squirty stuff, but this one was going to be a bit of a pain to get at.
Now to put a film in and see if it works ok. The light seals seem good and the leather case will help protect the shut lines anyway.
Happily, I found a yellow bayonet filter (mislabelled a 2n) and a bayonet hood was already in my big box of random hoods I bought as an ebay bargain a decade ago. I don't know how many times that box of hoods has come in useful.