I Fixed my 1956 Isolette III !

[pentaxpete]

GOOD NEWS !!! I managed to fix the seized up focus on my lovely AGFA Isolette III 1956 ! I took half an old film and cut it and processed and under x6 magnifier they are SHARP -- I could not get 'full aperture' on all of them as with 200 ASA Rated I had to use 1/500 @ f9 or f5.6 but THIS one was at f3.5 and at 3 meters away it is sharp ! I see this lady often in Brentwood and she poses for me for camera tests and I give her a print ! I managed to undo the very small screws on the focus ring and unscrew the front component which is two small glass elements which should 'separate' as you turn the focus, but they were stuck fast with the grease so i picked up some WD 40 on a small paint brush and brushed it into the join and LO and BEHOLD !! they separated and I could clean up the solid grease , now it focused at all distances, even 1.2 meters.

[Minolfan]

Working nice, have pleasure with the old camera!

[luisalegria]

WD40 on a paintbrush, good trick!

[uddhava]

Congratulations!

[titrisol70]

Same here, it took me a while to finish it, but it is here
- Focus and RF were frozen (the curse of green AGFA goo) which is solved with electrical contact cleaner and then synthetic grease
- Adjusted RF - checked lens collimation
- Bellows was a sieve, ordered one form SandehaLynch (bronze) and voila!



First Roll is in the camera, will develop soon

PS - pictures came out good.
Exposure is on the spot and focusing is fine.
That SOlinar lens is a good one.

[titrisol70]

very expired Ilford SFX with a 89B filter
DSLR "scanned"


Jul2023 - Scottsbluff NE

[martinsmith99]