Why does nobody talk about cleaning mirror alignment on old folding cameras?

I was working on an old Zeiss Ikon Nettar from the 1950s, one of those 6x9 folders, and after replacing the bellows I couldn't get the focus right. Turns out the mirror that flips up for the viewfinder was just caked with 60 years of dust and grease. Cleaned it with some isopropyl and a q-tip, and suddenly the rangefinder lined up perfect. Has anyone else had this issue with those old folding strut cameras?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_tara3d agoTop Commenter

Nobody ever checks the frame counter mechanism either. Those old folders have a little gear that can throw off the whole focus if it's skipping. Cleaned mine with lighter fluid and a toothpick. Fixed the infinity stop alignment better than anything else. Just a heads up for the Nettar crowd.

eric_carr3d ago

Funny you mention that, a buddy of mine had a Nettar that would focus fine at close range but always looked soft at infinity. He went through everything, even put it on a tripod and checked the bellows with a flashlight. Eventually he found that exact gear in the frame counter was binding up, causing the whole lens standard to shift just a hair when it tripped. Cleaned it with some lighter fluid himself and it lined up perfectly after that. Good tip @the_tara, that little gear gets overlooked way too much.