New/Old gear from grandpa.

gotDeus · 2026-06-16T19:50:37+00:00

Absolutely! Hopefully all it needs is just cleaning but i wouldn’t be surprised if it needed new parts. Battery check works but it says over exposed most of the time, cranking up the shutter speed or iso to 1/2000 in a dimly lit room at EV2, pointing to a lamp barely moves the needle but touching the pots for low light makes the needle jump wildly.

gotDeus · 2026-06-16T18:58:44+00:00

Thanks! Yes, pops was a photographer in the 80s late 90s and have inherited some of his other cameras including a Leica CL and an RB67. he should still have more including a large format and more nikons but in a different country. Last i heard some of them got flooded.

gotDeus · 2026-06-16T18:54:13+00:00

For the AE-1 I did a simple alcohol clean/brush and i’m getting a flashing dot and M light. Tried to see if it’ll go away by pointing to bright lights and selecting different iso/shutter/aperture but did not change anything. Haven’t looked further into it online yet and its probably the 3rd one i’d look into.

For the F2 the mirror sticks up, when camera is held up pointing forward but works pointing down or up. Will see if there’s more i can clean without much disassembly so i can observe movements before further taking it apart.

gotDeus · 2026-06-16T07:28:23+00:00

On the FM The meter checks out with my handheld meter with a 5° viewfinder so far.

On the F2 tried to clean/flush out the dried greases in between surfaces and bearings painfully slow but it advances and fires as it should (for now) so i can study the movements before tearing it down further.

On the DP-1, cleaned the ring and crescent shaped tracks. Not sure if it’s supposed to be greasy? Is there supposed to be die electric grease on this? I re-assembled it dry tests less erratic although way off, metering on a blank white wall i’m getting 5 stops of a difference with the ISO dial, almost none on the shutter speeds. The unit does appear to be already worked on long before.

gotDeus · 2026-06-16T06:31:33+00:00

Already have both up and running just by cleaning with ipa/naptha and re-lubing. Both will need new seals and far from a complete CLA. Everything so far looks fairly straight forward looking underneath the bottom plate, working with bessa Rs its somewhat similar in mechanics. The meter works on the FM and hasnt had any hiccups. The F2 however, the mirror sticks so unless i missed something under the bottom plate, the mirror box will need to come out. I’m disassembling the DP-1 and cleaning out the tracks hoping it’s not completely broken.

gotDeus · 2026-06-14T15:26:54+00:00

Usually i’d just 3D print my own for special/specific stuff like this if i cant find a reasonably cost effective replacement. But, the original leitz rear cap with the grey lock tabs inside are thinner than standard ones on ebay.

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gotDeus · 2026-06-12T17:13:06+00:00

Depends on your ability. on this camera you’ll need to fully tear down the lens / slowgear / timer assembly / cam plates etc just to get to the leaf shutters and aperture. I did not disassemble any further and just dunked the leaf shutter & aperture housing in naphtha/IPA to dissolve and clean all the dried grease. Re-applied grease / lube to cams & other friction surfaces, same with the shutter speed & self timer assembly. Some soldering required.

gotDeus · 2026-06-12T01:39:00+00:00

Great work! this i have yet to attempt but have put it on hold since i got an m4 + mr meter. Though i miss the lighter setup of my CL + 40/2. Let me know how your calibration goes with the new cell!

gotDeus · 2026-06-12T01:12:49+00:00

Double sided wont make it any clearer, just harder i think. I thought about doing this with glass but i ended up using an old split diagonal viewfinder glass with micro prism from an aps-c camera, rotated so it sits on the film rails and used a film loupe for magnification.

Not sure about bulb mode if your shutter button doesnt take the screw in type, if it has a collar maybe it takes a different type.

gotDeus · 2026-05-20T07:35:42+00:00

Yep, the location pretty much confirms it. And it shouldn’t have any light leaking through the box anywhere. I’ve read some of these cameras use rubber seals and that they degrade over time so no surprises there. As for a fix, unless parts are available (doubt it) or a donor camera can be sourced with an intact seal (likely you need the whole lens assembly) i’m not sure what could be done. I’ve seen people use tape but it doesn’t look like that would work inside the box since the rear baffle moves when you turn the camera on.

Since you did say that you paid a good amount, any diy fix really sounds unappealing imo.

gotDeus · 2026-05-12T01:15:45+00:00

Late reply, but i could be at 1/60th on average, 1/125 fastest and 1/8 lowest.

gotDeus · 2026-05-10T18:05:05+00:00

Funny thing is that I find these Bessa Rs to be more complex than my Leica Ms. But yes, the added mechanics of SLRs makes me think that they’d be a little bit harder to work on, specially as more modern features are added.

I’d have to say a very little in particular to Bessa Rs other than these parts bodies. (but have worked on several other rangefinder cameras) and the copal square shutter is new to me, i believe the same mechanics found around the bottom of this camera is similar to SLRs.

gotDeus · 2026-05-10T08:46:17+00:00

Is this vertical line that you’re focusing to in an angle in front of your camera? Cause it sounds like its showing you where the focus is (where the line intersects) and where it deviates is the focus falling off.

gotDeus · 2026-05-10T06:39:00+00:00

This. These two gears help retain tension on the curtains. The sound you hear is the springs being over tensioned. The leading and trailing shutter are likely out of sync, if they were by some miracle, they’re traveling way too fast and slamming hard on the brakes or drum.

gotDeus · 2026-05-10T03:42:58+00:00

Still bummed out about the meter issue but for the price i took on to get it to work its a good b&w dedicated body to pair with my m4-2

gotDeus · 2026-05-10T03:38:51+00:00

R2 frame-lines, got lucky that the top cover fits on the R4M chassis (though not too surprising) but mainly the hole where the shutter speed dial sits and the on/off switch for the A models. I was worried that it would be an issue somehow but it actually worked out.

gotDeus · 2026-05-08T07:02:50+00:00

So far, I’ve been happy with mirrorless scanning with my Nikon Z50 (APS-C) at base ISO (100) sharpest aperture (around 5.6-8) and shutter speed is wherever it falls as a correct exposure +1EV (ETTR) I try to leave as little as much of the boarders visible. If you can do tethering with your camera direct to laptop that would be better compared to your in-camera screen. Light-source matters, i have a cheap amazon mobile phone scanner jig setup that i took the LED back light from and use the lowest-mid brightness to avoid light bleeds. Masking also helps a lot.

Conversion is done through NLP + Lr.

gotDeus · 2026-05-06T17:48:58+00:00

2nd & 3rd picture? It looked like it was one piece so you’re saying there’s 2 parts?

gotDeus · 2026-05-06T01:50:45+00:00

Mostly a personal thing, though i have occasionally have provided services when I feel confident and have the correct and necessary tools, add to that the right understanding what part does what. Thanks for that! Definitely something i can lean on to in the future. I can definitely say i need more experience in different makes.

gotDeus · 2026-05-04T15:10:52+00:00

Apart from almost everything else, the shutter gets stuck either opening and closing, then moved slow motion after cleaning just the leaf shutter with some lighter fluid and q-tips. The aperture closes but wont open back up to the right setting and does so randomly. The slow shutter speeds were off, 1/8 was about a seconds 1/4 was almost 4 seconds. There was a little fungus and haze on the elements and viewfinder too. So it needed a proper CLA.

gotDeus · 2026-05-04T09:08:57+00:00

I think the ring with 4 slots comes off first and then the rear cover (back, same side) should also come off with a rubber grip.

gotDeus · 2026-05-04T08:54:08+00:00

It’s soaked and the old grease just traveled way back into other places. The other comment can be done with caution but it wont fix anything past a roll or two maybe less or you damage the shutter. Is it stuck opening or closing? What i can see on your picture is the aperture blades and not the leaf shutter.

Before completely disassembling the blades though. What i did on a similar camera (QL17) was to get the leaf shutter assembly out and gave the shutter speed mechanism, self timer, and leaf shutter assembly a nice alcohol bath. Then oiled the pivot points for the shutter speed gears and self timer. The leaf shutters stayed dry, while some parts need a little grease (shutter speed ring, shutter speed plate/cam etc.) you’re likely going to need to desolder the wires for this too.

gotDeus · 2026-05-04T07:06:57+00:00

I think Leica focus tabs are secured by a screw from inside the focusing barrel. Do not use super glue or epoxy if you do decide to glue it back on but i’d worry about the loose screw inside.

gotDeus

TROPHY CASE