Repairing the RE (part 1)

When I originally got this Miranda Sensomat RE body, the shutter seemed to be completely frozen, and the winding lever didn’t seem to be connected to anything, it just moved to and fro. But, one morning while fooling around with the RE, I cranked the lever with a bit more force than usual, and to my surprise it primed the shutter, which then could be released normally… It seems that the winding mechanism was just a little stuck, maybe due some dirt between the gears.

I was so delighted about this sudden display of activity, I almost forgot to go to work that morning… Well, in the evening after I got home from work I examined the camera more closely, and found out that the mirror stuck to up-position on all but the fastest shutter speeds.

I had already bought a “Miranda Sensomat RE Service Manual” from OTC, so with the aid of that invaluable manual I started dismantling the RE yesterday evening. After careful cleaning and oiling the situation is now much better, but the mirror still sticks up almost every time on slower speeds, and the winding lever is a bit stiff on the middle of its travel, at least stiffer than the lever on the Fv model. More dismantling and cleaning seems to be in order now…

Sensomat RE: viewfinder removed
Sensomat RE: winding lever & shutter speed dial removed
Sensomat RE: top & front cover removed
Sensomat RE: bottom cover removed

To be continued…

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Scanning old slides

At the end of last year my Dad gave me a big cardboard box full of old slides. Most of them are taken with the Miranda in the late 60’s and in the 70’s, only a very few of them are taken with the Pentax in the 80’s. It seems that Dad liked to use the diapositive film very much, a majority of his photos are in the slide form.

I finally got around to going through those slides. I knew that there were lots of shots about our family; after all, at the time Dad carried around the Miranda to almost everywhere… but I really didn’t expect a picture like this:

Me aged 2 and Miranda manual

That’s me at the age of about 2 years, leafing through the manual of Dad’s newly bought Miranda camera… I seem to be at page 9 in the picture.

It is incredible to think that here I am, some 45 years later, with the same instruction book on my desk and the same camera the photo was taken with on the shelf beside me… The picture above may also explain why I’m one of the few people who actually read through the instruction books and manuals before operating devices…

(I’m sorry about the quality of the picture. My old flatbed scanner is very bad at scanning slides, probably need to buy a new one, or a slide duplicator for the Focabell)

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Focabell

Got this Miranda Focabell bellows system just this week, found on eBay.

Focabell

Manufactured by Miranda Camera Co., this is an early 70’s type 7 (AIII) bellows with wheel locks, serial number 633605. Condition is very good, except that the two small screws holding the lens bracket to the front slider were loose, allowing the lens to move sideways. I had to detach the bellows and the front bayonet to reach those screws…

The first so-and-so test photo; that’s the “M” from a Miranda viewfinder prism:

M-macro

Source: Camerapedia: ‘Focabell

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Launch Party

This site is bit-by-bit nearing the critical point where I could start to think about releasing it to the general public…

Ok, it will be launched later today… The ‘Launch Party’ will be at Yucca’s place :)

fairy

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Miranda Sensomat RE

I acquired recently a strange Sensomat RE wreck with a m42 conversion, please see here.

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