... Rolleiflex SL66, now with Kodak TMax 400

CarlosMFreaza

2014-09-02 12:44:08 UTC

These old 35mm rangefinder cameras, one from 1937 and other from 1955,
are very pleasant to use. The Contax II was adjusted a few years ago
by Eddy Smolov in New York City, one of his last works, he is retired
now; the Diax Voss IIa from 1955 rangefinder was adjusted last year in
Buenos Aires city. I'm really happy with the SL66 after to wait 14
months for it, I can now say it is working very well. I used the lens
tilting function to incline the plane of focus for this photograph
(Scheimpflug principle), it's the best way to gain DOF for these
close-ups (better seen the largest size):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/itarfoto/14929633600/

Carlos

Post by CarlosMFreaza
Yesterday I took a Kodak TMax 400 with the Rolleiflex SL66 and
developed it too; the focal plane shutter is working perfectly, the
vertical bands in the previous color negative Portra roll were caused
in the lab; I had used other two Portra 400 from the same box in the
3,5F and 2,8C and they had no problems.
This time I used an Argentinian developer for the Tmax 400, Romek PQ7,
it is a Phenidone based developer, they call it Phenidek because
Phenidone is an Ilford trade mark. It's a concentrated liquid to be
diluted 1+3, you can develop up to 8 120 roll units with 1 litre of
diluted solution.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itarfoto/15079897386/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itarfoto/15102890525/
Carlos

I was comparing the bad negs before the SL66 CLA with this first roll
after the CLA and discovered or recalled a little big detail, the
bands in the older negs are _horizontal_ and the bands in the recent
color neg are _vertical_, it means the bands in the older negs were
caused by the shutter, it has a _horizontal_ run, but the current
_vertical_ bands couldn't be caused by the shutter; I examined the
recent color neg with a loupe and could see the vertical bands have a
continuity between the affected frames through the space between
frames, if the shutter was the cause, these bands would be cut between
the frames, but they do have continuity. I suspect there was some
operation error in the lab; I'll check now the focal plane shutter
working with a B&W film developed by me, I'm almost sure the shutter
is working fine.
Carlos

This is the first roll after the SL66 CLA. I wrote the camera was
working very fine and smooth but I needed to check the images for a
final opinion. I did it and I have some doubts about the focal plane
shutter working; some frames still show the regular bands caused by
uneven exposure I had noticed before the CLA. The situation improved
regarding the last rolls I shot before this CLA, but the bands are
still there (I think they appear or disappear according the selected
shutter speed). Sometimes it happens that some camera functions need
to be "exercised" after a CLA (it happened to me for cameras serviced
here, in USA and in Germany) , I'll shoot another roll to get a
conclusion.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itarfoto/15048384216/
Carlos