I developed the film in HC-110b and thought the Fomapan showed good grain and tones. I also have some Fomapan 200 in 35mm which often gets poor reviews, but I think it will be interesting to see how it does in PMK Pyro.
The pictures mostly showed me the good sharpness I have come to expect from the coated Varex lens, but there was quite a bit of variation in the density of the negatives even though most were exposed in sunny conditions. A few of the images I shot at slower speeds also were blurry across the frame. That indicated a shutter problem, and when I closely examined the action of the shutter as I should have done earlier, I could see that shutter was sluggish at lower speeds and not even closing completely sometimes. So, time for a clean-up.
The first step in disassembly is to screw out the little pin which stops the rotation of the lens at the infinity position. Then, you can unscrew the front lens group, taking note of the position of the lens when it comes loose so that it can be screwed back in properly to achieve proper focus.
The face plate with the shutter and aperture indexes lifts off after removing the peg at the top and the small screw at the bottom. That gives access to the shutter cover plate and center lens group which can be lifted out after removing the long screws at the 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions.
By holding the shutter open I was able to lightly scrub the shutter and aperture blades with Ronsonal, and I also brushed some on the gears and levers of the simple shutter mechanism. After cleaning I found that I could not at first get the shutter operating properly; the release remained locked with the shutter at the B setting and the shutter seemed to operate at just one speed at the other settings. It turned out that I needed to have the shutter set to the 1/25 position during reassembly in order to get everything properly aligned. It is also important to hold back the little tabbed lever attached to the star wheel with a small screwdriver blade so that it fits into the slot in the shutter cover. With everything back together now the shutter seems to be working properly at this point, but I'll run a roll of color through the camera soon to make sure I've got it right.
10 comments:
Lovely. I'm a fan of Fomapan 200 in 35mm and now I see that it's just as good in 120.
And this post might well be the only resource on the whole Internet for fixing an Argoflex Forty shutter! I love how we can share our experience on the Internet and it becomes useful for others for years to come.
When I originally got this camera is had an intermittent light leak that took me a long time to track down. I finally discovered that the light was sneaking in through the opening around the shutter release. I did a post on that which can be found in the camera index over in the right column. I didn't have to do anything with the shutter then, but a couple years on a dusty shelf made the intervention necessary.
I wish I had the patience and steady hands to do this. I think that many of the cameras I send off for CLA probably just need a basic cleaning, re-foam and some simple adjustments. I'm always afraid I'll get one apart and not be able to get it back together again. :-)
I choose my challenges pretty carefully in regard to camera repairs. Some simple cleaning procedures will be adequate with the old Compur shutters and with many of the simpler mechanisms found in Kodak and Argus cameras. There are also a lot of good on line sources of information on servicing such cameras. I'm happy to leave repairs to more sophisticated equipment to the experts. I've had some failures in my repair efforts, but since I seldom spend more than $40 for cameras, I feel the risk of failure is pretty minimal.
Well, you inspired me to un-flip the lens in my Super Seventy-five and see what I can get with the Coated Lumar. Hopefully, it will provide something approaching your Argoflex. It is a fun camera to use.
The thing I really like about these cameras is the brilliant finder. Seeing the world through that big piece of glass is really inspiring. The bright reflex finder also makes it easy to shoot from a low angle for a perspective that it hard to attain with many more sophisticated cameras.
You did well with the Fomapan 100. I have a love-hate relationship with it. Sometimes, in particular, in the rain or in gloomy conditions, it just sings. Other times, I get that chalk and soot characteristic, where the blacks are just plain muddy. I concluded that I will revert to Tri-X 400, which responds better in the Hasselblad in all light conditions and is a bit finer grain. (I am referring to the contemporary Tri-X, not the old Pro ISO 320.)
Tri-X is often my preferred medium format film because of its tonal range and fine grain. I'm trying Fomapan as an experiment to see how it looks now. Much of the information one finds on line about Fomapan is very dated, so I'm pleased to be able to draw my own conclusions now. I've been happy with the results I've gotten from Kentmere which also got a lot of bad reviews, and I'm interested in knowing if Fompan will respond as well as Kentmere to development with Pyro developers. I haven't come across anything on that possibility so far, so am happy to be in the role of pioneer in this respect.
I disassembled the shutter of my Argus 40. Despite taking many pictures I can't figure out how the two springs in the shutter speed mechanism mount. Do you have any more close up pictures of this mechanism? Thanks
Sorry to say I have no other pictures of the Argoflex 40 shutter. Such a good shooter for little money. I'd probably get another in your situation.
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