Rolleinar Zoom 80-200 f4

Rolleinar Zoom 80-200 f4

Problem: Aperture ring turns with no effect and some fungus

The name Rollei is most associated with the Rolleiflex TLR cameras, but there are few other cameras branded Rollei. First produced by the original German company, and later the production moved to Singapore. Rollei had a 35mm SLR line named Rolleiflex SL35. This Rolleinar lens is with the SL35 mount.

The lens I've got was in quite a good shape with it's original filter and lather case. The aperture ring turned but did nothing on the aperture itself. Pressing the "Auto" pin, the aperture would close to about F11 (or something) and thats it. No signs of oil on the blades. There were few marks of fungus on the inner elements I could remove on the way to there aperture.

Fig 1 - Rolleinar 80-200 f4. Most (if not all) were made by Mamiya (Japan)

Fig 2 - Hello there (fungus)

As we need to get to the Aperture mechanism we start from the lens mount. First you can remove the back lens assembly barral. Note there are two (in my case, can be more or less) spacer rings.

Fig 3 - View of the Rolleinar lens mount

Fig 5 - Unscrewing the back lens elements. The spacer rings are inside (see next figure)

 

Fig 6 - The two spacer rings.

First remove the 3 screws and remove the mount ring. Next you remove the rubber grip from the aperture ring so you can access the 3 screws holding the cover ring on the back. 

Fig 7 - Rubber grip removed from the aperture ring.

Ones the 3 side screws were removed, you can lift the cover ring from the back exposing 3 more screws holding the whole back end to the barrel.

Fig 8 - The cover ring removed. You can see one of the 3 screws holding the back at the top of the figure.

Now you can remove the whole back end with the aperture ring. Take care no to loose the bearing ball used to set the "clicks" for the aperture. My advice is to lift the aperture ring with a soft towel under the lens, this way ones the ball will drop (and it will), you won't have to look for it all over the room's floor.

Fig 9 - Aperture ring removed.

At this point I could figure out what was the problem. The coupling lever, coupling the aperture ring with the setting ring inside the lens was bent. So it didn't seat properly in the groove of the setting ring and turning the aperture ring did nothing. Removing the lever, it could be easily bend back to shape.

Fig 10 - The bent lever.

Fig 11 - And straight again.

At this point having access to the elements around the aperture, the fungus was removed. I used a cotton swab with few drops of white vinegar to remove and sterilize the lenses, next cleaned the residue with some alcohol and wiped clean with a dry swab. Putting everything back together is quite straightforward. Note only the coupling tab between the aperture ring and the inner brass ring. 

Fig 12 - The coupling tab

Fig 13 - The aperture can be set ones more.

Fig 14 - All done. Rolleiflex 80-200mm F4 - Repaired.