Some weeks ago I was invited to a Russian forum (rangefinder.ru) I thought it could be nice to know some locals and mostly have more access to the local market.
A week ago I was written by a user from Peter if I could do a service of his Voigtlander Bessa RF 6x9. Wow! I was honoured with such petition!
After some talk we agreed on a price and he sent me the camera and it arrived to days ago, in the meantime I have been asked by two another users to do something else, the last one I had to refuse, I don't like to hurry when I do these things.
The purpose of this thread is no other than stabilise a procedure of diagnosis of folding cameras, which it seems I'm specialised, the procedure has at the moment:
Lens status (haze, separation, fungus, scratches, cleaning marks, loss of coating, de-coloration, lens elements order and orientation, thread status, correlation between serial numbers of front and rear elements).
Shutter (old grease, broken parts, missing parts, speeds status, speeds accuracy, dirtiness).
Bellows (sound, micro holes, tears, original or replaced).
Front gate opening/closing (shutter/lens fully extended, parallel to film gate, opening mechanism, closing mechanism, help needed).
Film chamber opening/closing (need help when opening/closing)
Viewfinder (haze, fungus, scratches, clearness, field of view)
Rangefinder (clear vs dim vs no visible, accuracy, mirrors status, vertical alignment).
Film pressure plate (giggling, sound, square to film gate, marks from film gate).
Film gate (smoothness, checking above/bellow rollers).
Winding (turning in the right direction only, free roll film mechanism).
Collimation (distance marks are correct earthier at helicoid/font lens)
Coupled rangefinder (correctly aligned with ground glass and distance marks).
Focus mechanism (smoothness).
Shutter release mechanism (smoothness, return back of button).
Automatic counting mechanism (working).
Red window (clearness, close/open knob working).
Light leaks (missing light traps).
Leather / leatherette (complete, dry, tears).
Leather case (complete, dry, tears, need stitches).
Test roll.
What am I missing?
Thank you in advance,
Alex
