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Nikon Camera Repair Handbook

Nikon cameras demonstrate some of the highest quality optical and machine work in the world. In this step-by-step manual, Nikon owners will discover how to disassemble, maintain, clean, repair, and restore camera bodies, including rangefinders, mechanical SLRs, electronic SLRs, and underwater cameras. Also included is information needed to clean, repair, and restore lenses and photographic accessories. Each model is discussed individually and accompanied by illustrative photos and detailed instructions. Lists of basic skills, precautions, and tools necessary to complete repairs are also provided.

When 3 tenors of photographic equipment worked togheter, a legend was born.

The viewer is made by Leitz (Leica), the lens by Schneider-Kreuznach; that’s for the German part, and the case is from Brooks-Plaubel; the American part. The camera was made from the mid 50’s till the mid 60’s. About 30.000 were produced. On the camera you can see the inscription : New York – Frankfurt a/M, beautiful.

The Veriwide 100, has his name from the angle of view it takes : 100° and is ...very very wide.

This is the equivalent of a 18.5mm on 35mm film.

But the great thing about the camera is, it’s on medium format. You can shoot 7 images on a 120 film with a huge size of neg : 6x10cm, for every picture.

The camera is very compact for a mediumformat, weights a bit more then a kilogram and is easy to carry.

I found this camera in a pile of junk on a Belgian fleamarket. The shutter was broken. After Googling for a while, I found a camera-repairsman that could fix it. And there goes the camera with airpost, from Belgium to the US. After a month impatiently waiting the camera, I had a letter from the custom that they made an investigation on the camera and I had to explain from where this camera came, and why I have to send it to the US for repair. I still doesn’t understand... But the camera was wonderfully repaired and the glass was cleaned fine.

The lens has this softness that caracterise early lenses, when you shoot in the sun it’s vignetting, and the corners are a bit difformed, like you can have on a pinhole.

It has speeds from bulb till 1/500 sec and f 8 till 32. Enough to have a correct exposure on any circumstance.

Having decided to set up a photo studio in my basement, I went to my mother to see what odds and ends I could scavenge. As fate would have it, she was disassembling her studio in favor of a more portable rig, so I grabbed just about everything, including these three Novatron strobe drivers, of which only the oldest works. I also snagged four working Novatron strobes, 2 Vivitar 283 Flashes, 1 Vivitar 273 Flash, 3 slaves, two backdrops, 3 umbrellas, and a number of lightstands and mounts.

The current fly in my ointment is that my primary camera, the Canon Digital Rebel, has no PC connector, so I can't hook it up directly. Right now I have the working Novatron rigged up to one of the slaves, but even this is imperfect as the Canon's built in flash isn't very controllable. Combine that with the lack of adequate reflectors on the walls of the room, and I've still got a long way to go before I can get much out of the studio, but I'll put some photos up to represent my progress as things start to happen.

(Unfortunately, a Novatron is something you simply can't repair yourself. They have huge capacitors in them, so they aren't safe to take apart. I haven't any spare change right now, but I'll look into getting at least one of the other two fixed eventually, and perhaps I will try and fix and sell the other one.)

With great detail this book outlines all of the techniques needed to repair and restore Leica cameras, lenses, and accessories—including light meters, winders/motors, viewfinders, and flash units. Each model of equipment is discussed individually with step-by-step illustrated instructions. Readers will not only learn how to disassemble and repair equipment, but also how to troubleshoot and make cosmetic restorations. A glossary of technical terms and an abstract containing the basic fundamentals of camera repair are also included.