Jsolette Green Sticky Stuff

Some Jsolettes, most actually, suffer from sticky (green) lubricant. This might mainly be a problem with the focus thread but also can affect the shutter at slower shutter speeds.

The fix for the focus thread is pretty simple. You slowly warm the camera up, not hot, just to the touch. This makes the sticky green stuff somewhat softer. Now you want to turn the focus ring back a forth with mild force. If possible, move it all the way to close focus. Now apply some lighter fluid to the threads, this is a solvent that is compatible with optics. I use the one by Zippo with great success. Use gloves if you don’t want temporary white skin. Now move the focus thread in and out, re-apply lighter fluid if needed. Some stickiness will remain, which is a good thing for the focus ring.

If the shutter times are not OK, the process gets a little bit more involved. Now you will have to remove the lens/shutter-assembly from the camera. You will need a lens spanner to remove the retaining ring on the inside of the camera. It is easiest to first fold the camera, loosen the ring (be careful to not damage the bellows). Unfold the camera and remove the retaining ring. The lens assembly will now pop out to the front.

Similar to large format lenses, the lens consists of a front lens group and a back lens group which are screwed into the shutter.

Unscrew both lens groups. The front ground has to a little stop which needs removal first. This provides the chance of giving those groups a good clean (do not use circular motion at all costs!); lighter fluid is a good solvent for that job.

Speaking of lighter fluid, now it is time to give the shutter/iris assembly a good bath in the same. In problem cases, I washed the assembly in hot water first and when still hot, give it a lighter fluid bath. This will remove all lubrication, which is not good either. Once the iris blades and the gears of the shutter are no longer sticky, dry everything as quickly as possible. We don’t want rust to build up. I now tend to apply small portions of petroleum jelly to the gears (not the aperture blades!). Heat is your friend to distribute the petroleum jelly while moving the mechanisms.

When putting it all together, care should be taken to put the front group in the exact same thread as before. The focus worm has 3 threads. Get the wrong one and all photos will be out of focus. I got that wrong once and found myself with 12 out-of-focus negatives once. With an open shutter, a defined short distance to a bright light source and some parchment paper would will be able to find the correct thread should things have gone wrong.

(Semi) Stand Development

Some opinions might make you believe that you need at least 5ml of Rodinal to develop a film in stand development.

To be honest, I never understood that statement.

When doing stand development with 1:200 dilutions, I just eyeballed with what I got, and it turned out alright every single time; mainly for 120 and 135 Foma films. My tanks are using either 590ml or 250ml of liquid. In both scenarios, the amount of Rodinal is obviously less than 5ml for a 1:200 (give or take) dilution.

I have the suspicion that the above statement is more based on the lack of a device being able to provide decent accuracy for measuring small volumes.
While I do not claim this finding for me, I feel it would be a good idea to promote the finding by Will Agar.
While I did not learn about stand development from Will Agar, I was made aware of a cheap measuring device Will is abusing for photography purposes: the medicine (or dosing) spoon.

Dosing spoon

The dosing spoon is good for 10ml of liquid to be dosed. In my use, that would make about 2 litres of developer. However, the spoon displays sections of 1ml in good distance, such that a measurement in the region of 1/4ml is possible.
And yes, I used that kind of spoon to dose the amount of raw Rodinal required for my JOBO 1510 tank for developing a 135 roll of Fomapan with less than 5ml of Rodinal.


Method for 120 film:

• pre-soak for 2min
• rinse twice and empty tank
• pour developer in tank and agitate slowly for 1min
• tap tank a few times
• let stand for 90+ min
• empty tank and wash before fixing

Method for 135 film:

• pre-soak for 2min and empty tank
• pour developer in tank and agitate slowly for 1min
• tap tank a few times
• 2 slow agitations every 15min, tap tank after agitations
• after 90min empty tank and wash before fixing

Maybe the agitations for 135 film are not necessary... however, in some experiments, the sprocket holes of the 135 film created streekes of uneven development. The somewhat regular but seldom agitation appears to overcome that problem. However, the agitations will also prevent some of the beneficial effects of stand development  to fully appear.

Agfa Jsolette V Bellows Repair

Some months ago, I decided to enrich my collection of medium format cameras by a model that is literally pocketable.
During a stroll in "de bazaar" I found a Agfa Jsolette V, the most primitive one of the Jsolette family. Just about perfect for what I had in mind. For the looks of it, the camera was in mint condition... sold by a serious collector.

The Jsolette V was build between 1950 and 1952. So, consequently, I had to assume that the bellows were probably not a light tight as they should be any longer. And, guess what, when sending photons off some semi-conductor device inside the camera, while being in a dark room, the bellows gave a preview of a Christmas tree all along the folded edges. No surprise, really.

Before I put any film into the camera, I figured it would be a good idea to fix the bellows first. And yes, one can order replacement bellows... while the replacement process is well documented, combined with time of shipment to arrive... this is just not worth the effort.

When browsing for bellows repairs, one finds strange methods using pins and needles combined with dyed glue... not sure about this! Well, this might just work, who am I to judge, but for now long?
Further, one finds comment like "electrical tape is for electricians, not photographers". Hmmm, OK! I remember that in photography, gaffers' tape is commonly used... however, I never came across the comment that "gaffer's tape is for gaffers, not photographers". Something seemed wrong with that electricians tape statement...

And guess what, I grabbed a roll of black electricians tape and put a generous amount along the edges of my camera's bellows. Using about 30% more than the actual length of the edge fives sufficient material to fold the tape into the undulations of the bellows. Too long, and there might be too much tape to squeeze in, too short and the tape might just peel off every time you open the camera.

With the tape applied, I noted that the camera folds open a lot slower, i.e. with a lot less force. What I am trying to say here, you should never just let the thing snap open (as many folks show in Jsolette videos). Push the release and let the camera gently open by holding the front mechanism.
And here is the reason why: the atmospheric pressure against the bellows will weaken the most agile parts of the bellows by airflow. Once a hole was created, the airflow when opening or closing the camera will weaken that particular spot, thereby creating a light leak and/or pinhole.

While the bellows of the Jsolette are made of a material that appears to call for electricians tape, that solution might be valid for other cameras using bellows, e.g. large format.

Adjusting the Focus on a MIR-38B 65mm

Lately, I got myself into the KIEV 88 medium format system.
Don't ask me why....
OK, you asked, this is why: 6x6 is a square format, simplifying my photography, I thought I should give square format a chance, removing one more parameter, allowing to focus more on composition.

Right, so, that's what happened: I got this very nice kit with a KIEV 88 and 3 lenses (80mm, 65mm and 45mm).
2 of the lenses were just right. Meaning that one was not OK...
Guess what, that lens that was not OK was the one I planned to use the most... the 65mm wide-angle.

The MIR-38B 65mm did not focus infinity! Actually, it only focused up to 8m. As a secondary problem, the "DoF-preview"-lever was kinda dragging.
When purchasing the kit, I was not informed about this, however, I did not expect to receive a perfect kit either, seen the many reports about the poor quality control done on equipment of such kind.

At closer inspection, it was clear that some previous owner discovered the problem that this lens has (had). Traces of (unprofessional) attempts to open the lens are obvious.

The following image is not mine... I got it from the following link:
http://digichar.com/imgs/a/e/d/e/i/ussr_soviet_lens_mir_38_b_3___565mm_medium_format_kiev_60__6c__88cm_pentacon_six_3_lgw.jpg

On this photo, you do see some screws on the back of the lens, but if your lens is just out of focus range... don't touch any of those!

If the focus range is the problem of your lens, just (carefully) remove the rubber-sleeve from the focus ring... get it out of the way!
You will now find 3 tiny screws on the focus ring. Gently loose those, you don't want to unscrew those. Just loosen those a little.
Now, you want to mount the lens onto your camera.
Slight pumping back and forth action with the focus ring doing a left-right motion, while looking through the view finder, will get you some idea how to further proceed.
Once you figured out what I am talking about, you want to use the split-image indicator to focus a very distant object.
You done that, lock those screws again.

Now you want to unlock the screws of the DoF and focus indicator ring ans adjust the red dot to whatever position your infinity focus is.
Lock down everything.

If the focus position was you only problem (which is very likely), you're done!

With my lens, more things were wrong. The DoF-preview stuck.
Actually, I had to remove the 3 screws you see on the back of the lens. This removes a plastic shield.
Further, 3 long (!) screws of the back of the barrel will need to go out. This will remove the aperture selector mechanism, including a tiny steel ball, which you have to watch out for!
When removing the barrel, you will hear a click, which is the aperture tension mechanism.
In my lens, the preview lever was badly bent (and partly sheared off) on the inside. With a pair of pliers, I carefully bent the lever to a functional position.

I managed to get my MIR-38B 65mm lens into fully functionally shape. I hope that my little howto helps you to deal with your very own MIR lens.