Taking the Rollei leap.

[Kentop]

1a1aaaaaaflex15.jpg (121.16 KiB) Viewed 24429 times

Bargain basement Rollei

Hi everybody. I bought a scratch and dent Rollei off FleaBay for 100.00 bucks. Yes, it was an "estate sale" item listed by someone who doesn't know cameras. What I got was a Rolleiflex Automat Model 3 with the Carl Zeiss Jena 3.5 75mm taking lens. Rolling the dice sometimes pays off. The item I got was really a nice working camera obviously used by a professional photographer. I am a retired professional photographer, so I know the tell tale signs of someone who knows what they are doing with a camera. The lenses were perfect. the shutter was a bit gummy at 1/500th (who uses that shutter speed anyway?), The focus screen was dirty and it had been modified with an X sync ASA connector below the taking lens. It needs a CLA, which I will do myself, having just resurrected a Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic 4x5 from the grave, including making a new focal plane shutter for it and rebuilding the Graphlex Optar lens with Wollensak shutter. After that ordeal, I think I can handle the Rollei. Glad to be here.