Weltaflex
As a TLR fan in general and fanatic Lubitel 2 owner, I have been lusting after this old East German TLR camera for quite some time, with its sexy upmarket leatherette-and-steel cosmetics. Having finally obtained a copy, I have found it to be a highly underrated and effective piece of equipment.
SLR cameras do nothing for me. For me, it’s TLRs all the way. From what I can find out online, the Welta company in Dresden produced this lovely heavy TLR from around 1955 onwards. Given my twin obsession with Communist bloc cameras in general, and TLRs in particular, I have long longed to own one.
The Weltaflex is particularly interesting compared to the Soviet Lubitel series, because it is so obviously more ‘upmarket’ in intent, imitating the Rolleiflex series (right down to copycat title) rather than the pre-war Voigtlander. Though therefore comparable in both style and intent to Yashicas of the same era, it never acquired the fame of the Yashicas, and is therefore still available at far lower prices online.
The Weltaflex’s more ‘professional’ aspiration is particularly reflected in the generous aperture span — bulb, 1,2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 300 on my model. F stops are 3.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22. It has a flash mount with synchronizer settings but no remote cable release mount. Incidentally, there appears to be at least two distinct models, one with a 1: 3.5 f 75mm Meritar lens and the other with a technically identical Rectan lens. The model I have reviewed here has the Meritar lens, and is also distinguished by a automatic frame stop device.
The Rectan-issue camera by contrast, or the ones I have seen, relies on the user using the normal rear mounted red window at the back to track frame progress. The manual forward winding system accordingly took me a little while to get used to on this camera—a small friction wheel on the right hand side can be set to advance film either frame by frame or to let the take-up spool spin freely, and a small metal ‘foot’ on the bottom inside right of the camera needs to be placed against an adjoining metal post for the frame winding system to work. Film is then loaded and wound to where arrows on back of the film intersect with a painted dot on back of the camera, not unlike a Yashimat, and after closing the back a small yellow window on the side of the camera then shows frame progression. This system theoretically prevents double exposures, since you cannot take another shot without winding on, although in practice (see photos) it does not always work.
The overall camera is an impressively heavy metal beast compared to a Lubitel, and has a Rolleiflex-style focusing wheel on the left hand side rather than the interlocking front cogs of the Lubitel system. Together with a pop-up internal magnifying glass inside the viewing hood, this makes it quite easy to create nicely focused shots, although the viewfinder is quite dim. The shutter is cocked at the front, as on a Lubitel, but the taking lever is a small and enchanting motorbike-style pedal on the right hand side of the camera. Some complain that this pedal is heavy to push down, but I find it absolutely fine, and certainly appreciate the fact that the cocking and taking mechanisms are not placed right next to each other. Moreover, I love the photos so much, particularly the sharpness and sometimes dreamy colour, that I have just bought another copy of the camera with the Rectan lens and technically simpler loading/frame tracking system for comparison/laughs.
Overall this is a great and unjustly neglected TLR, a fitting addition to any collection, and an interesting insight into the GDR’s relatively greater technological ambitions at the time.
Photos taken on Weltaflex using Sekonic L-398 light meter and Fujiifilm Superia 120 ISO 400 film. Product shots of Weltaflex courtesy of the ebay seller from whom I bought the camera.
via Welta Weltaflex: A Really Great East German TLR – Lomography.
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via yashica close up lens – Flickr: Search.
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Rolleicord Repair/ CLA Tutorial
I usually don’t write articles, but I thought it would be interesting to share some recent experience I had with this camera. So before you read on, just keep in mind, that I’m not a professional repairman and there may be some real big mistakes in this article….
Anyway, here is the story: I found this lovely rolleicord for 30 euros on a flea-market and couldn’t resist buying it. The camera wasn’t usable when I bought it, as the slow shutter speed were stuck, selecting knob for shutter speed was not fluid anyway, and there was no focusing screen in it! So the rollei landed on my shelf as a decorative camera at first….
Some month later, I thought I would give it a try, and searched the internet for more information.
My first repair consisted of making a focusing screen. I didn’t want to spend too much money on it, as the shutter didn’t work properly anyway. So here is what I came with:
You take a cd jewel case, cut it to the right dimension and file it with sandpaper on both sides. Finished! You have a matte screen as a cheap replacement/alternative. Of course, it turns out to be very very dim, but for now it is just fine. But I think I will look for a real screen in a near future.
Next was the shutter:
This camera is equipped with a compur-rapid sutter and xenar 4.5 lens. I think this kind of shutter is relatively common and can be found on other cameras. I read a lot of times, that cleaning the whole mechanism would usually be sufficient to make slow shutter speed work again. So I began disassembling my rolleicord. Here are the steps:
1. Remove leatherette:
I used a cutter to carefully remove the leather covering, but found out later some people use water to dissolve the glue…. will try this next time….
2. Remove the screws:
Unscrew all the screws you will see (here in yellow, but I forgot some..), and you will be able to take out the lens and shutter:
Pull away the metal cover. This is really tricky because of the shutter button (which needs to be taken apart so you can remove this metal cover).
Now you should only have the frame with lens and shutter:
To remove the lens, just unscrew it.
Now you need to remove this metal ring, to fully access the shutter mechanism. But you will need a specialised camera repair tool to unscrew this little “screw” (see picture below).
Well, to do so I made my own tool…. out of an Iphone sim card ejector!
Just cut it halway, file the border so it fits the tiny holes and bend it to the right size. Finished!
As I said before, use this tool to turn the small screw a quarter turn, and carefully using a screwdriver, you will be able to pop up this metal ring. Leaving the shutter open:
Note that I didn’t play with the mechanism with this ring removed…I don’t really know what could happen….
At this point, the easiest way of cleaning it, is to use the “flood-cleaning” method.Put a generous amount of lighter fluid on the parts you want to clean, let it dissolve oil and dirt, then clean up with paper towel. Repeat if necessary. I let it dry a night long before reassembly just to be sure….The results have turned great so far: All shutter speeds are working again! and they do very smoothly, you can really see the difference before and after cleaning. Of course I also cleaned all the other parts in a lighter fluid bath before reassembling my camera.
The next step I’m planning is realigning my focusing lens ( especially because of my diy focusing screen…). This shouldn’t be too hard, and I will let you know if I succeed in it. For now, I will take some pictures and have fun with my new camera
thanks for reading this and sorry for my bad English 😉
source: http://perudography.tumblr.com/post/7779426376/rolleicord-diy-repair-cla
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